News Broadcasting
India Today Business Today’s budget roundtable with FM Nirmala Sitharaman
The India Today Business Today budget roundtable, scheduled for February 6, 2023, will include a star studded lineup of federal ministers, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The customary Budget day coverage, a yearly high interest event for television stations, was followed by this round table. On 1 February , when FM delivered the first amritkaal budget to the legislature, a trio of anchors Rahul Kanwal, Udayan Mukherjee and Rajdeep Sardesai presented a rapt post budget discussion. With over 143k average concurrent users on the India Today YouTube channel alone, our budget-day coverage made a blockbuster online debut.
The round table includes other ministerial colleagues, Secretaries, analysts and Indian industry doyens in addition to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who has the distinction of delivering five union budgets in a row and is likely to elaborate on her first of the Amritkaal budget.
Senior union ministers who will also address the nation from the podium include Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal, will all share their perspectives on the topic of the effective model for growth in times of global recession.
In order to present a vibrant and interesting session, BT Editors Sourav Majumdar, Siddharth Zarabi, Udayan Mukherjee, Aabha Bakaya, News Director of India Today and Aaj Tak, and Executive Director of Business Today, Rahul Kanwal, will demonstrate their distinctive anchoring approaches.
Details of the other sessions: A discussion on the Budget and the ‘Politics of an Election’ will feature dynamic speakers BJP MP Jayant Sinha and Congress National Spokesperson and social media chairperson Supriya Shinate, for the top tax consultants will discuss ‘Taxation: Hits and Misses’ including senior tax adviser Ved Jain, Deloitte APAC tax head Neeru Ahuja, Price Waterhouse Cooper partner Sanjay Tolia, Partner, EY India TMT tax leader Vishal Malhotra
While Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman Nitin Gupta, will take the audience through ‘The Long & Short of Taxation’, corporate leaders who will be debating the agenda ‘Push for Industrial Growth’ includes Feedback Infra chairman Parvesh Minocha, Lemon Tree Hotels, CMD Patanjali Keswani, HDFC Mutual Fund MD, CEO Navneet Munot, Snapdeal, CEO Kunal Bahl, Moglix Founder, CEORahul Garg, Max Life Insurance MD and CEO Prashant Tripathi.
A discussion with ‘The Budget Makers’ will feature Finance secretary T.Y. Somanathan, Department of revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra, Department of economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth and Department of investment and public asset management secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey.
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.
