News Broadcasting
Ras-Al-Khaimah to host CNBC-TV18 CFO Awards
MUMBAI: CNBC – TV18 have instituted for the first time an award for chief financial officers (CFOs) of India Inc., in recognition of the contribution that they have made towards the outstanding success of their organisations. The CNBC-TV18 CFO Awards 2006 will be held on 25 and 26 November at The Hilton, Ras-Al-Khaimah (RAK), UAE.
RAK crown prince Shaikh Saud, RAK chairman Shaikh Faisal, Ministry of Economics HOD Shaikha Lubna will preside over the event and award the winners of the CFO Awards. The CFO of a company is primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of a business and also for financial planning and record-keeping. In recent years, however, the role has expanded to encompass communicating financial performance and forecasts to the analyst community, according to an official release.
Working tirelessly behind the scenes, CFOs create wealth for organizations, stakeholders and customers. CNBC-TV18’s CFO Awards for the first time recognizes the experts who generate profits for India Inc’s most revered companies.
The winners of the CNBC-TV18 CFO Awards, India’s most definitive awards for excellence in the financial field, will be selected after an extensive three -stage selection process.
Nominations for these prestigious awards have been arrived at after a comprehensive quantitative research of India’s best businesses. Some of the nominations received for the awards are of famous industry stalwarts and well known CFOs of buoyant companies like KC Birla, (UltraTech), Moses Elias (Colgate), D.D. Rathi (Grasim), S. Radhakrishnan (Cipla), Ram S. Ramasundar (Ranbaxy) and Rajiv Rattan (Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd).
A poll amongst senior management in corporate India and special industry groups will further shortlist the nominations. Eminent jury comprise Infosys Technology LTD director-HR & ENR TV Mohandas Pai, FPSB India chairman Shailesh Haribhakti, AV Brila Group CFO Sumant Sinha, Deloitte Haskins and Sells joint managing partner Dileep Choksi, ICICI Securities LTD MD Subrata Mukherji and HDFC MD Keki Mistry have been appointed to select winners in different award categories in the third stage
Commenting on the CNBC-TV18 CFO Awards 2006, a spokesperson of CNBC-TV18 said, “The CFO’s function has transformed beyond recognition in recent years. Today’s CFO faces immense challenges from regulators, standard setters, investors and other stakeholders. These Awards will provide an in-depth insight into the best practices adopted by industry’s top CFOs across sector while benchmarking successful strategies that would help organizations across industries to enhance and maximize its potential. India Inc’s top CFOs have successfully structured their finance departments towards sustainable growth and these awards will assist in shaping the agenda for the finance function of the future.”
Categories for the CFO Awards are:
best CFO in the following Sectors
· Auto & Auto Ancillaries
· Telecommunication Sector
· FMCG Sector
· Healthcare Services
· Financial Services
· IT & ITES sector
· Engineering & Capital Goods
· Basic Materials – Commodities
· Oil & Allied Services
· Media
· Diversified
Most Promising Entrant into the big league
Mergers & Acquisition Category
Best CFO Viewers Choice
CFO of the year
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.
