News Broadcasting
PIB’s Manish Desai becomes interim CEO CBFC
MUMBAI: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is soon to see a change of face. 20 September was outgoing CEO Pankaja Thakur’s last day in office. PIB Mumbai Director Manish Desai has been roped in to oversee the board till the time a new CEO is appointed. He has taken charge of the CBFC from today.
Manish Desai
The government had issued notice in national newspapers calling candidates to apply for the post. Once the due process of going through the applications and interviews is completed, the ministry of information and broadcasting will approve the successor to Thakur which could take some time. Till then, Desai will hold additional charge as CEO while continuing with his responsibility as director of PIB (Mumbai). He, however, is not one of the applicants for the post.
Talking about the dual post, Desai says: “Since the two offices are not far off I will try to do justice to both by managing my time.”
Thakur took charge of a post that had been kept vacant for nearly ten years in 2010. Before that it was the chairpersons who overlooked the CBFC. Thakur has faced severe criticism from the film fraternity for her decisions but has also received support from certain parts of the industry. Leela Samson is the current chairperson of the CBFC.
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.
