iWorld
Sandhya Devanathan joins Meta India as head and VP
Mumbai: Meta announced the appointment of Sandhya Devanathan as the vice president and head of Meta India. Devanathan will begin her new position on 1 January 2023. She will report directly to Meta APAC vice president Dan Neary.
Devanathan will transition to her new role on January 1, 2023 and will report to Dan Neary, Vice President, Meta APAC, and be a part of the APAC leadership team. She will return to India to oversee the India organisation and strategy, as per company statement.
With over 22 years of experience in banking, payments, and technology, Devanathan will focus on aligning the organisation’s business and revenue priorities in order to better serve its partners and clients, while also supporting Meta’s long-term growth and commitment to India. In her current role, she will spearhead the company’s India charter and strengthen strategic relationships with the country’s leading brands, creators, advertisers, and partners in order to drive Meta’s revenue growth in key channels in India.
In 2016, Meta appointed Devanathan to lead the growth of its Singapore and Vietnam businesses and teams, as well as its Southeast Asian e-commerce initiatives.
In 2020, she was promoted to lead gaming for APAC, one of Meta’s largest verticals globally. She also has a strong interest in developing female business leaders and is the executive sponsor for women in APAC at Meta, as well as the global lead for Play Forward, a global Meta initiative to improve diversity representation in the gaming industry. She is also a member of Pepper Financial Services’ global board of directors.
As per media reports, Meta chief business officer Marne Levine said on this new appointment, “India is at the forefront of digital adoption, and Meta has launched many of our top products, such as reels and business messaging, in India first. We are proud to have recently launched JioMart on WhatsApp, which is our first end-to-end shopping experience in India. I’m pleased to welcome Devanathan as our new leader for India. Devanathan has a proven track record of scaling businesses, building exceptional and inclusive teams, driving product innovation, and building strong partnerships. We are thrilled to have her lead Meta’s continued growth in India.”
iWorld
OTT piracy hits Rs 8,000–11,000 crore annually in 2025
Illegal feeds drain broadcasters as MIB task force moves slowly; OTT now main piracy source with 63 per cent share.
MUMBAI: India’s TV screens are leaking money faster than a pirate’s ship because when signals get stolen, the only thing sinking is the industry’s bottom line. DTH signal piracy has escalated into a multi-billion-rupee crisis for India’s broadcast sector, with illegal feeds causing an estimated Rs 22,400 crore loss in 2023 alone. Industry estimates show roughly 90 million users accessed pirated video content outside India in 2024, inflicting $1.2 billion (≈ Rs 10,000 crore) in notional losses equivalent to about 10 per cent of the legal video market. Without stronger intervention, projections warn this could balloon to 158 million users and $2.4 billion in losses by 2029.
Broadcasters and distributors report piracy now eats over 30 per cent of their revenues, crippling reinvestment in content and infrastructure. The shift is stark, while DTH once dominated pay TV, active subscribers fell to around 56.92 million in early 2025 amid subscriber churn to OTT platforms, which now boast over 547 million video streamers. Yet piracy has followed the audience OTT has become the primary source for illegal content, accounting for 63 per cent of such access and driving Rs 8,000–11,000 crore in annual losses for the streaming market.
The industry has repeatedly urged the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) to mandate forensic watermarking technology that embeds invisible identifiers in video streams to trace unauthorised feeds back to their source. Other proposed measures include physical verification for set-top box activations and location-based services. MIB established a task force to tackle the issue, and a nationwide consultation began in late 2025, but stakeholders say progress remains slow and the mandate too narrow, still excluding full coverage of cable and satellite networks.
The broader media and entertainment sector valued at Rs 2.5 trillion in 2024 faces mounting headwinds from piracy’s evolution. Cross-border enforcement remains complex, consumer preference for free content persists, and technological countermeasures spark an ongoing arms race. Without faster regulatory teeth and wider safeguards, broadcasters warn, the projected doubling of losses by 2029 could choke innovation and global competitiveness.
For an industry already squeezed by OTT migration, signal theft isn’t just theft, it’s a slow bleed threatening the very content that keeps viewers hooked. The question now isn’t whether piracy hurts; it’s how long the legitimate players can keep the lights on while the pirates keep the party going for free.
