News Broadcasting
NDTV reappoints Sanjay Pugalia as full-time director
MUMBAI: Fast decisions, familiar faces. NDTV’s board has moved swiftly to lock in continuity at the top, reappointing Sanjay Pugalia as full-time director for another three-year term, even as it cleared financial results and auditor mandates in a packed meeting.
The board of New Delhi Television Limited met on January 28, 2026, approving several key resolutions. Chief among them: Pugalia’s reappointment as whole-time director for a full three-year term starting April 1, 2026, and running until March 31, 2029. The appointment will take effect after shareholder approval at the company’s forthcoming annual general meeting.
Alongside leadership continuity, the board approved NDTV’s unaudited financial results for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2025, on both standalone and consolidated bases. The results were prepared in line with Sebi regulations and include the auditors’ report from S. N. Dhawan & Company LLP. The numbers are available on the company’s website, ndtv.com.
The board also reappointed Sanjay Gupta & Associates as cost auditor for the financial year 2026–27.
Pugalia brings decades of experience across television, digital and print media. He spent 12 years with CNBC Awaaz and was part of its launch team, served as news director at Star News, led Zee News, and was among the founding team at Aaj Tak. In print, his bylines have appeared in Business Standard and Navbharat Times, and in the 1990s he was a regular contributor to BBC Hindi Radio. Before joining NDTV, he was president and editorial director at Quint Digital Media Limited.
The company clarified that Pugalia has no family relationship with any other director on the board and faces no restrictions or adverse orders from Sebi or any other regulatory authority.
The meeting, held from 4 pm to 6 pm on Wednesday, underlined NDTV’s intent to steady the ship: secure leadership, signed-off numbers and clean governance—tidy decisions, taken fast, with little appetite for drama.
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.
