Hindi
NFDC announces Satyajit Ray poster design contest winners
Mumbai: National Film Development Corporation Limited (NFDC) held an online film poster design contest in honour of the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who will be honoured at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa from 20 to 28 November. The contest’s theme was The One and Only Ray.
Information & Broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur expressed his appreciation and said, “I extend my congratulations to the three winners whose posters were selected out of hundreds of entries and the 75 top poster designers who meticulously created such imaginative film poster designs for the ‘One & Only Ray’ contest. I further extend my appreciation to the jury for their time and thoughtful selections. This 53rd IFFI is set to bring in a whole new experience for movie lovers from around the world, the excitement is catching on!”
Artist Sayak Das was the winner of the contest while Varad Godbole was the first runner up and Aniruddha Chatterjee was the second runner up
NFDC India managing director Ravinder Bhakar informed, “In honour of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and the 100th anniversary of Ray and 39th birth anniversary, we held this contest for creative professionals with knowledge of art, visual communication, graphic design, and illustrative skills. Everything came together, and we now have our top 75 winners. We hope the general public will praise the film poster designs that will be on display at the 53rd IFFI.”
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) aims to provide a common platform for filmmakers from around the world to showcase their talent and the best of cinema from around the world. As the country commemorates the 75th anniversary of its hard-won independence with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav flags swaying in every state, 75 film poster designs from across the country have been chosen to be displayed for audiences in a unique exhibition of the legendary Satyajit Ray at the 53rd International Film Festival of India 2022.
The jury, composed of renowned artists from the fields of art, cinema, and painting, selected the 75 best film posters from a total of 635 submissions. The entire process, including the jury and evaluation, was conducted online. The top three winners will receive cash prizes, as well as a souvenir created from the winning film poster designs, which will be presented to dignitaries during the 53rd IFFI.
Filmmaker Shyam Benegal said, “The One and Only Ray film poster design contest at the 53rd IFFI honours Ray’s legacy both as a filmmaker as well as his considerable work as a typographer, and graphic designer-the last but not the least of the great masters of the Bengal Renaissance.”
Indian painter & muralist Anjolie Ela Menon said, “I am obliged to be a member of the jury for the ‘One and Only Ray’ contest, the applicants and the innovative work reflected their sharp efforts. It is a proud moment for India; since we have a wealth of talent. I hope that applicants will hone their creative abilities and wish their earnest efforts will all be recognized in future. Adulation for the winners of the contest.”
Veteran artist and animation film designer Dhimant Vyas shared his views, “Overwhelmed by the calibre of the applicants, NFDC has done an outstanding job toward its objective of providing a platform for emerging film poster creative artists and designers and paying homage to the renowned Ray. I wish success to everyone who took part, the creatives were remarkable.”
The jury, which included renowned artists from the fields of art, film, and painting, chose the 75 best film posters from 635 submissions. The entire process, including the jury and evaluation, was conducted online. The top three winners will receive monetary prizes, with the winner receiving Rs 1,000,000/-, the first and second runners up receiving Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000, respectively, as well as a souvenir created from these three winning film poster designs, which will be presented to dignitaries and eminent personalities attending the 53rd IFFI.
Each jury panelist was given a unique login and password, and a scoring criteria was used to determine the winners: creativity and originality, theme relevance, visual contest, and visual impact.
Imafoundation.com founder, artist and curator Radha Binod Sharma stated, “I am honoured and privileged to serve and conduct national duty for the NFDC organisation. This is a great initiative which has helped to bring prominence to the present and past cultural riches that exist in India. I come from a rich, and derp culture in the North-East of India, namely Manipur and Tripura and beyond my artistic work I am committed to identifying talented artists in India and worldwide. I appreciated and enjoyed viewing the exceptional works from the varied regions of our culturally diverse country and I was uplifted by how the applicants rose to the challenge of the contest and theme. As a result, I saw a lot of emerging talent with some impressive film poster designs which filled me with immense pride. Vande Mataram.”
Artist Prakash Bal Joshi told, “Was joyous to be part of the esteemed jury & glad to adjudicate commendable artworks of the film poster designs inspired by Ray. Gratitude to all the efforts from the applicants as well as the team NFDC for this unique contest and ease of evaluation process.”
Multi-media visual artist and academic Shukla Sawant said, “I had the opportunity to view the artists and creations while reviewing entries for this movie poster design contest, which was an absolutely wonderful experience. I am hoping that the audiences will find them equally appealing during the display. I congratulate the organizers of the 53rd IFFI for their unwavering support to the creative community.”
The festival promotes understanding of various social and cultural ethos, as well as appreciation for world cinema, by bringing film cultures together. The NFDC received an overwhelming response to the contest, and the applicants’ level of creativity was exceptional, adhering to the contest’s theme. NFDC encourages everyone to be inspired by Ray’s work and legacy. During the 53rd IFFI 2022, the film poster designs will be on display at the Festival Mile.
Hindi
India’s telecom subscribers cross 1.32 billion in February 2026
Broadband base swells past 1.06 billion as Jio and Airtel tighten grip on the market.
MUMBAI: India’s telecom sector is ringing in steady growth once again adding millions of new connections every month while the race for broadband supremacy continues to heat up like a fiercely contested cricket match. According to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 1 April 2026, the total telephone subscriber base in the country reached 1,321.31 million at the end of February 2026. This marked a net addition of 7.31 million subscribers during the month, translating into a monthly growth rate of 0.56 per cent.
Wireless subscribers (including mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) stood at 1,273.31 million, registering a net addition of 6.97 million and a growth rate of 0.55 per cent. Within this, urban wireless connections grew to 730.75 million (growth 0.70 per cent), while rural wireless subscribers reached 542.56 million (growth 0.35 per cent).
Wireline subscribers, though much smaller in scale, showed slightly faster growth. The total wireline base increased to 47.99 million, with a net addition of 0.34 million and a monthly growth rate of 0.70 per cent. Urban areas continued to dominate wireline connections with a share of 89.41 per cent.
Overall tele-density in India improved to 92.66 per cent. Urban tele-density stood at 150.68 per cent, while rural tele-density edged up to 60.02 per cent.
The broadband subscriber base crossed a significant milestone, reaching 1,059.05 million at the end of February 2026. This reflected a healthy net addition of 6.33 million subscribers and a monthly growth rate of 0.60 per cent from January’s figure of 1,052.72 million.
Segment-wise, mobile wireless access continued to drive the majority of growth with 996.52 million subscribers. Fixed Wireless Access (including 5G FWA) added 16.51 million, while wired broadband stood at 46.02 million.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. maintained its commanding lead with 519.64 million broadband subscribers. Bharti Airtel Ltd. followed with 364.14 million, Vodafone Idea Ltd. with 129.36 million, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. with 28.70 million, and Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. with 2.38 million.
Together, these top five players command a massive 98.60 per cent share of the total broadband market.
In the wireless (mobile) segment, private operators continued to dominate with 92.59 per cent market share, leaving public sector undertakings (BSNL and MTNL) with just 7.41 per cent.
Out of the total 1,257.29 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,177.60 million were active on the peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) date, representing an impressive 93.66 per cent activity rate. Bharti Airtel led in this metric with 99.42 per cent of its subscribers active.
Meanwhile, 14.47 million subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in February, indicating healthy competition and customer churn across zones.
While urban areas still lead in absolute numbers, rural connectivity is slowly catching up. Rural wireless tele-density stood at 59.46 per cent, compared with the much higher urban figure of 142.32 per cent.
Fixed Wireless Access using 5G technology also showed promising traction, growing to 11.93 million subscribers. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are the primary players driving this segment.
The data paints a picture of a maturing yet still rapidly expanding telecom ecosystem. With total telephone subscribers now well past the 1.32 billion mark and broadband users comfortably above 1.06 billion, India continues to solidify its position as one of the world’s largest and most dynamic digital markets.
From bustling city streets to remote villages, more Indians are staying connected than ever before proving that when it comes to telecom, the country’s appetite for growth shows no signs of hanging up anytime soon.
