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Govt looks to cutting equipment import duties; pushing TV software exports
NEW DELHI: The Indian government is looking at giving a major fillip to exports of TV software and films from India this year and also get some concessions to the media and entertainment industry by having the various duties on import of equipment rationalised or lowered.
According to government sources, the information and broadcasting secretary Pawan Chopra is slated to meet the representatives of the hardware and software sector early next week to discuss the issues in this regard as a part of a pre-Budget meeting.
The sources indicated that Chopra’s thrust would be to elicit response from the industry as to what all should and can be done to give a major fillip to exports of TV software and films, an area which the government feels has great potential as a revenue earner.
Information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj recently had told indiantelevision.com that this financial year film exports especially had crossed Rs 9 billion.
One of the concerns of the broadcasting industry has been a high duty regime and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation had also petitioned the I&B ministry to influence the finance ministry to rationalise duties on import of equipment.
Broadcasting Council formation
A senior official of the I&B ministry indicated that work has started on formulating a paper on the formation of a broadcasting council, ahead of the enactment into a law of the Convergence Communication Bill (CCB).
The proposed Broadcasting council, to monitor content on TV channels, would be equivalent to the content bureau as envisaged in the CCB which has run into problems with a parliamentary committee, after collating feedback from various section, had observed that the time may not be ripe yet to have an all-encompassing convergence law.
A bill has to be moved in the Indian Parliament if Swaraj wants to push ahead with the broadcasting council which, anyway, would not have any regulatory powers.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
