iWorld
ZEE5’s short-form video segment HiPi goes live
KOLKATA: India has closed its booming short-video market for the giant video-sharing platform TikTok for now. The past month saw an explosion of homegrown apps with even established over-the-top (OTT) players expanding into the segment. While ZEE5 had been working for HiPi for more than a year, the latter has finally entered the market on 14 August.
The full-fledged launch will be done in a phased manner following the beta rollout. While the beta version for android went live on Friday, the iOS version would go live in the coming weeks. HiPi has onboarded over 400 influencers along with more than 70 Zee TV celebrities and looks at adding more than 100 by the end of this calendar year. HiPi’s content will be available for users in 12 languages along with display in 11 languages. While the platform is integrated with the ZEE5 app itself, it will be available for free to users.
ZEE5 stated that the platform has been envisioned and created in India for the diversely unique Indian audience after extensive research. With an array of multiple features, it enables users to showcase their talent through various unique filters and effects, also discover, follow and appreciate content that is being created by others. The format and technology that HiPi has integrated with its interface and navigation will allow users to create videos up to 90-seconds.
Earlier, Indiantelevision.com caught up with Rajneel Kumar when he spoke on Hipi. Read the full interaction here.
“The launch of HiPi is a proud moment for us as the short video platform was developed in India keeping with the ethos of Atmanirbhar Bharat. HiPi revolutionised the entertainment experience, by giving a universally accessible platform to unmask the latent talent present inside each of us, taking us from being a fan to fandom! Continuing with a focus on customer centricity, HiPi will help Indians to connect with their millions of fans and stand a chance to step into the real fandom world. A platform which will be the official home of entertainment and entertainers! As we go live today, HiPi takes ZEE5 one step closer to its ambition of becoming India’s Entertainment Super-App!” ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial said.
In the past, we have seen user-generated content platforms getting dragged into controversies for sensitive content. Hence, ZEE5 is highly focusing on user experience and brand safety. ZEE5 India expansion projects business head and product head Rajneel Kumar assured that both human and AI intervention will be there to filter content. “Unlike other platforms, no content which is uploaded goes straight and people can see it. Every content which is uploaded goes through a layer of both AI and human moderation,” he said earlier in interaction with Indiantelevision.com.
“The vision for HiPi stemmed from an idea to further grow ZEE5 as a one-stop destination for the new and dynamic India. And a lot of care has been taken to build this platform to enable a creatively charged environment which simultaneously empowers the creators, users, brands and viewers alike. The framework of the platform has been created to encourage more creativity and engagement while also making sure that the security and safety of our users are never compromised. It is a platform truly made in India, made for India,” Kumar said in a statement.
Although TikTok’s absence might be a bliss for Hipi, it already has a number of homegrown, as well as international, rivals. Another leading OTT platform MX Player launched its short-video platform MX TakaTak while Instagram launched Reels to take on this market. However, Hipi differs slightly for its content strategy which can be helpful for it to win the game.
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.
