iWorld
Tarun Katial steps down as Zee5 India CEO
MUMBAI: Zee5 CEO Tarun Katial has put down his papers after four years. He had joined the OTT platform in November 2016 and during his tenure, not only did he steer the platform and help the company gain a leadership position, but was instrumental in conceptualising the brand’s home-grown short video app HiPi, among other things.
A company spokesperson said, “We wish to confirm that Tarun Katial has tendered his resignation, as CEO, Zee5 India. We thank him for his valuable contribution towards the growth of Zee5. Under his able leadership, in a very short span of time, Zee5 has emerged as India’s largest ConTech brand, delivering seamless, superlative content across different consumer touch-points, backed with cutting edge technology. His rich experience and expertise have been invaluable in building a robust digital platform. We wish Tarun the best in all his future endeavours.”
In line with its recently announced strategic restructuring of the organisation, Amit Goenka as the president – digital businesses and platforms will continue to lead team Zee5, along with other digital platforms.
In a career spanning over three decades, Katial has worked at companies such as Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), BIG FM, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Star TV Network, Ogilvy & Mather (now Ogilvy), Enterprise Nexus Lowe.
Under his leadership, the Zee5 platform has amassed 100+ originals across genres and languages and seen 100 million plus downloads.
iWorld
Akhil Gupta retires as Bharti Enterprises vice chairman after three decades
The man who outsourced Airtel’s network and built Indus Towers leaves behind a telecom industry transformed
NEW DELHI: He was not the most visible face of Bharti. He was, by most accounts, the most consequential one. Akhil Gupta, known within the group simply as AKG, has retired as vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises with effect from March 31st, 2026, closing a chapter that stretched across more than three decades and reshaped Indian telecoms in ways still felt today.
Gupta was there at the beginning, part of the core leadership team that steered Bharti Airtel from a scrappy domestic operator into one of the world’s largest telecom and digital services companies. But it is two decisions in particular that cement his legacy. The first was persuading the industry that a telecom company need not own its own network. His outsourcing partnerships with IBM and Ericsson, considered eccentric at the time, stripped out capital costs and sharpened Airtel’s competitive edge. The model was subsequently copied across the global industry. The second was the creation of Indus Towers, now one of the largest tower companies in the world.
Both initiatives were studied as case material at Harvard Business School, where Gupta himself had studied. A chartered accountant by training and a dealmaker by instinct, he accumulated industry accolades across his career without ever particularly courting the limelight.
Bharti Enterprises, announcing the retirement on LinkedIn, credited Gupta with building the foundation of the group’s success and driving innovation, partnerships and long-term value creation.
The tributes are deserved. Gupta did not just help build Airtel. In many respects, he helped invent the playbook that modern telecoms runs on.
