GECs
Sahara appoints Ernst & Young to value entertainment business
MUMBAI: Sahara Group has mandated consulting firm Ernst & Young to conduct a valuation of its entertainment and movie businesses, sources close to the company said.
Under the ambit will be Sahara’s Hindi general entertainment channel and the movie library it owns. Sahara has produced several recent hits like Page 3, Sarkar, No Entry and Hanuman.
News channels, however, are kept out of Ernst & Young’s valuation exercise, the source said. Sahara runs a bouquet of news channels under the Sahara Samay brand. This includes a national and several regional-centric channels.
Ernst & Young is expected to submit the valuation report within a month. Sahara officials were not willing to speak on the issue. Sahara India Mass Communication Ltd CEO Shantonu Aditya was not available for comment.
Sahara’s entertainment business is being handled by a management joint venture with Percept’s Shailendra Singh at the helm. This includes SaharaOne TV, the Hindi general entertainment channel, and motion pictures business. Sahara also plans to launch Filmy, a movie channel.
Sahara Samay is handled by a different team. “It has a separate structure including a different ad sales head,” the source said.
A change in name of the listed company is on the agenda to reflect the SaharaOne brand so that it brings in the identity of Sahara’s entertainment business. SaharaOne Media and Entertainment Ltd will be the new name of Sahara India Mass Communication, following the shareholders’ approval which is likely to be sought in December.
Sahara India Mass Communication is a profitable company, having earned a net profit of Rs 65 million on a total income of Rs 1.68 billion in 2004-05. It has a healthy business model involving production of software and licensing it to the Hindi-language general entertainment channel SaharaOne TV. The earnings from the movie business also get reflected in the company’s revenues.
However, Sahara India TV Networks, the privately held company that is the broadcasting arm for the group’s entertainment and news channel operations, is loss-making. The advertising revenues of SaharaOne TV and the news channels of Sahara Samay get reflected in this company. Though SaharaOne TV’s ratings are slowly inching up and the channel has managed to hike effective ad rates, it still has some way to go to be profitable. Movies, however, have turned out to be profitable for Sahara this year.
GECs
Sahara One reports financial results, notes director exit and business realignment
Muted revenues, steady expenses and strategic adjustments shape company’s current phase
MUMBAI: In a tale where the sands seem to be slipping faster than they can be gathered, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited has reported another quarter of wafer-thin income and widening losses, even as a boardroom exit adds to the unease.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its board, in a meeting held on April 4, approved its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. The numbers paint a stark picture. Total income for the quarter stood at just Rs 0.13 lakh, unchanged sequentially and sharply down from Rs 0.26 lakh a year earlier.
Losses, meanwhile, deepened. The company posted a net loss of Rs 24.16 lakh for the quarter, compared to Rs 18.81 lakh in the June quarter and Rs 39.69 lakh in the same period last year. For the six months ended September 2025, the cumulative loss stood at Rs 39.69 lakh, while the full-year loss for FY25 was reported at Rs 60.72 lakh.
Expenses continued to outweigh income by a wide margin. Total expenses for the quarter came in at Rs 24.30 lakh, led by employee benefit costs of Rs 6.51 lakh and other expenses of Rs 17.78 lakh. Earnings per share remained in the red at Rs (0.11) for the quarter.
The balance sheet reflects a company with significant assets on paper but limited operational momentum. Total assets stood at Rs 23,065.57 lakh as of September 30, 2025, broadly unchanged from March 2025. Equity share capital remained steady at Rs 2,152.50 lakh, while total equity was reported at Rs 18,004.85 lakh.
Cash and cash equivalents saw a modest uptick to Rs 6.75 lakh from Rs 4.68 lakh earlier, supported by a positive operating cash flow of Rs 180.01 lakh for the period.
Yet, beneath these numbers lies a more complex narrative. The company’s auditors flagged their inability to obtain sufficient evidence to form a conclusion on the financial statements, citing lack of access to records. They also raised concerns over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, pointing to insufficient funds, delayed recoveries, and stalled content investments.
Adding to the governance overhang, the company disclosed that Rana Zia has resigned as whole-time director, effective October 16, 2025, citing other professional commitments. The resignation, noted and accepted by the board, also brings an end to her role across company committees.
Regulatory pressures continue to loom large. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has already initiated penal actions for non-compliance with listing norms, with trading in the company’s shares remaining suspended. There is also a risk of promoter demat accounts being frozen.
Legacy legal issues remain unresolved. A substantial deposit of Rs 694,027.88 thousand linked to the long-running OFCD dispute involving Sahara group entities is still under the purview of the Supreme Court of India. Restrictions on asset disposal continue to weigh on the company’s financial flexibility.
Operationally, challenges persist across multiple fronts. Advances worth Rs 1,92,916 thousand given for film content remain stuck, with delays in project completion and uncertain recoverability. The company’s YouTube channel, despite being operational, has generated no revenue for over three years due to compliance lapses. In a further twist, management has indicated that revenues may have been fraudulently diverted through unauthorised changes to its AdSense account, with a police complaint in the works.
There are also missed revenue opportunities. Television content rights continue to be used by a related party despite the expiry of the licence agreement, with fresh negotiations still underway.
For now, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited appears caught between legacy disputes and present-day operational hurdles. As losses linger and governance questions mount, the road to recovery looks less like a sprint and more like a slow trudge through shifting sands.
