News Broadcasting
Hinduja TMT bags US BPO contract
MUMBAI: Hinduja TMT (HTMT) has picked up a business process outsourcing (BPO) contract from a US health insurance company.
The contract will initially run for a period of three years and will involve both transactions processing as well as client contact center work in the area of health care.
Speaking to indiantelevision.com, HTMT senior VP Arun Kumar said that while “the training and pilot project started on 12 January, the commercial processing would take off within a month.” This is the second health insurance BPO contract that HTMT has bagged from the US. “Both clients are Fortune 200 companies,” Kumar added.
HTMT has employed 80 people as transaction processors for 3 modules of the training and pilot project. The company is expecting to further add 600 transaction processors to the work force based on its experience with the existing healthcare insurance BPO client.
HTMT vice chairman Solomon Raj was quoted in a company statement saying, “Our existing domain expertise coupled with realization of high quality performance metrics in the health insurance sector was a major factor that made HTMT the preferred vendor of choice.”
The company is in the process of setting up a high-end call center employing medical doctors, states the release. HTMT has taken on lease premises admeasuring 80,000 sq. ft. for building 1400 seat capacity at Bangalore to meet the expanding requirements of its customers including those of the new client. This is in addition to the existing capacity of 1050 seat 52,000 square feet offshore development centre ‘HTMT House’ at Bangalore, which is now fully occupied.
HTMT has won a number of accolades in the recent past. It was recently voted as the second best employee friendly company in the Dataquest-IDC BPO Employee Satisfaction Survey. The first position had gone to the first name of India off-shoring, GE Capital. It was also rated the second largest in the insurance claim processing business by the Business World magazine in terms of number of processors. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 Program 2003 has recognized HTMT as one of Asia Pacific’s leading technology companies in the year 2003.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
