News Broadcasting
India Economic Conclave 2025 to host global policy and business heavyweights
MUMBAI: If economics ever needed a red carpet moment, this might be it. Times Network is set to roll out the 11th edition of the India Economic Conclave on December 17 and 18 at Taj Palace, New Delhi, bringing together a formidable mix of ministers, market thinkers and industry leaders for two days of big ideas and bigger debates.
Themed “Navigating Geoeconomics”, the conclave will explore how India is positioning itself in an increasingly complex, multipolar world where trade routes are redrawn, technology rewires industries and geopolitics spills straight into boardrooms.
Over the years, the India Economic Conclave has evolved into a go to platform for shaping conversations that matter. Past editions have hosted global statespersons and thinkers including Hillary Clinton, Mike Pompeo, Boris Johnson, Peter Zeihan and Garry Kasparov, charting India’s journey from reform to global relevance.
This year’s speaker line up is equally star studded. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, labour and youth affairs minister Mansukh L Mandaviya and environment minister Bhupender Yadav will headline discussions alongside economist Gita Gopinath, Pmeac member Sanjeev Sanyal and policy voices from India and abroad.
Industry and business will be represented by leaders such as Rajan Bharti Mittal of Bharti Enterprises, Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu, In Space chairman Pawan Goenka, Kotak AMC’s Nilesh Shah, AIonOS co founder CP Gurnani and World Gold Council CEO David Tait, among many others.
Across two packed days, conversations will span economic resilience, manufacturing and infrastructure, capital flows, digital and services led growth, as well as emerging priorities like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, climate transition, mobility and defence preparedness.
Presented by IDFC First Bank, the Times Network India Economic Conclave 2025 promises to make sense of a complicated world without putting its audience to sleep. Even for those who do not usually follow balance sheets or policy briefs, this is where the future gets explained in plain sight.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI: Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
