Event Coverage
Money not enough to succeed in India, Screwvala warns international players
CANNES: Amongst all the India high fives chatter on the opening day of Mipcom, UTV Group founder and CEO Ronnie Screwvala offered a reality check to both Indian as well as international companies on the opportunities and challenges of doing business in India.
Screwvala‘s session with Anil Wanvari, founder and CEO of Indiantelevision.com, was clearly aimed at cutting through the bombast and some of the points he made will have made some really big global conglomerates a tad uncomfortable.
To quote from some Screwvala-speak: “I do believe that in many aspects, many of the multinationals that have come into the country, may not have had the best experience. My question to them for coming in, in the future is always going to be, ‘What‘s your value add?‘ Because India is a very unique market.
“And if you‘re coming in there thinking, ‘Well we can go out there and buy. We can go out there and give large amounts of money and display that.‘ I dont think necessarily, that‘s going to be the way that India is going to welcome that player.”
Screwvala took the examples of long invested in India conglomerates like Time Warner (CNN & Cartoon Network), Viacom (MTV, Nick, Vh1), Sony, Pearsons, Kerry Packer (Channel 9), Disney (Disney Channel, Toon Disney and now Hungama) and News Corp (Star) to make his point.
Said Screwvala of Warner, “CNN and Cartoon Network have really not had an India agenda though they have been in India for the last 15-20 years. CNN finally licensed their brand name to a local news channel (Network 18‘s CNN IBN) for as cheap as a million dollars. That clearly articulates a lack of strategy for the Indian environment.”
Pearsons (print) and the Packer group (TV) had both burned their fingers in India and in the process burned off $ 100 million each, he pointed out.
Interestingly, even News Corp‘s Star is not as rosy a story as commonly perceived, Screwvala pointed out. Looked at for the period between 1992 and 2007, net-net, the cumulative P&As would not be on the plus side, was Screwvala‘s view. Why? Because between 1992 and 2000, Star was bleeding big time, particularly on the huge investments it made to launch DTH then, which proved a non-starter.
Even Star‘s market dominance of 2000-2005 was one of missed opportunities, according to Screwvala. He believes that not enough was done then to monetise and leverage the dominance Star plus enjoyed then.
His advice to international companies – “Ask the question: ‘What‘s your strategy? What‘s your value add?‘, before taking the plunge.”
On the domestic front, Screwvala sees cable as being the single largest bottleneck to the evolution of the industry to the next level. The cable industry would require anywhere between $5-10 billion dollars of investment in hardware if it was to evolve into the new digitalised world and that wouldn‘t happen without regulation of the cable industry, Screwvala stressed.
He remained unimpressed by calls for regulation in other parts of the broadcast value chain though.
Event Coverage
Anime India announces Amazon MX Player as co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata 2026
MUMBAI: Riding high on the success of its blockbuster Mumbai debut, Anime India is accelerating its nationwide expansion with the announcement of Amazon MX Player as the co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata. The partnership marks a significant step forward in the festival’s mission to deliver large-scale, accessible, and fan-first anime experiences across the country.
Scheduled for 14 and 15 February 2026 at the iconic Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan, Anime India Kolkata will launch the first regional chapter of what is set to be a year-long, multi-city tour. As the curtain-raiser for the 2026 circuit, the Kolkata edition aims to fuse the energy of global Japanese pop culture with India’s fast-growing community of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans.
A household name in digital entertainment, Amazon MX Player brings unmatched reach and cultural relevance to the Anime India platform. With its expanding focus on anime and youth-driven content, Amazon MX Player’s involvement as co-presenting partner reinforces Anime India’s vision of making anime culture more inclusive breaking barriers of language, geography, and accessibility to connect with fans nationwide.
Anime India Kolkata 2026 will showcase cosplay competitions, interactive zones led by the Indian Gunpla Community, India-39 Vocaloid Community, The Japan Curry, and Adda-o-Otaku by The Otaku Guild. Fans can join tournaments across fighting games, Pokémon VGC, and more. Acclaimed Japanese director Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) will attend as guest of honour, appearing in panels and live sessions. Positioned as an immersive celebration of fan culture and industry collaboration, the Kolkata edition marks the beginning of Anime India’s nationwide expansion.
Sharing their perspective on the partnership, Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani expressed, “Anime in India has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural movement, driven by an increasingly engaged and passionate fanbase. At Amazon MX Player, our focus is on expanding access by bringing anime to audiences across the country for free and in multiple local languages. Our association with Anime India reflects our commitment to supporting the growth of anime in India and deepening connections with fans, while continuing to build Amazon MX Player as a trusted destination for free, high-quality entertainment.”
“Anime India Kolkata is a celebration of how anime has grown beyond entertainment into a powerful cultural and creative force. By bringing fans, creators, and industry leaders onto one shared platform, the festival is helping define the future of pop culture in India,” said Anime India co-founder and director Neha Mehta.
The debut edition of Anime India 2025 in Mumbai attracted over 29,000 fans, quickly cementing its status as a landmark celebration of anime and Japanese pop culture. Riding on this overwhelming response, the Kolkata chapter is projected to draw more than 40,000 visitors across two days, positioning it as one of the biggest anime conventions ever held in eastern India.
Anime India is focused on bringing together fans from across the country to create a truly pan-India celebration of anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and Japanese culture. With plans to expand into four key metropolitan hubs in 2026—east (Kolkata), north (Delhi), west (Mumbai), and south (Hyderabad)—the festival seeks to deliver globally benchmarked experiences while supporting and uplifting creators, artists, and fan communities throughout India.
