News Broadcasting
CNBC-TV18 announces Emerging India series for Small and Medium Enterprises
Mumbai, November 11, 2005: CNBC-TV18’s Emerging India Awards 2005-06, presented by ICICI Bank, was launched today at New Delhi. The ‘Emerging India Awards’, recognizes the best sustainable Value Creators among SMEs in the country. Indian SMEs having a net worth of a maximum of Rs 75 crores are eligible for entry to the awards. The Emerging India initiative has been powered by CRISIL, India’s premier credit rating agency.
CNBC-TV18’s Emerging India initiative has been acknowledged by SMEs, the government of India as well as the Finance Minister as a benchmark initiative; one that aims to recognize and support the growth of SMEs in India. Over the last 2 years, this initiative has gathered momentum and has seen extensive participation from SMEs across India from different sectors. In its first year, the Emerging India Awards saw more than 5000 small and medium sized enterprises participate by way of nominations.
As a prequel to the Emerging India Awards 2005-06, Emerging India Forums have been touring the country once again as a platform for SMEs to voice their views. After its initial success in Hyderabad, these forums will also be held in New Delhi, Pune and Kolkata. The series also comprises of shows on CNBC-TV18, anchored by Vivek Law. These shows raise important issues related to SMEs; be it on the policy front or issues related to technology, global markets, competitiveness etc. The theme of the current year’s initiative is ‘Gearing Up for the Next Level’ where the accent is more on strategies and support that will help SMEs face the challenges of a rapidly integrated world market.
The Emerging India Awards will follow a three-stage evaluation process beginning November 2006. The first stage begins with SMEs nominating them using the nomination forms available across ICICI Bank Branches and also on www.moneycontol.com/cnbc/emergingindia. The second stage involves detailed evaluation of financials as well as other parameters of top 25 entries and 3 SMEs in each category are short listed for the third stage. The third and final stage is a jury-based evaluation comprising of eminent industry leaders and experts along with CRISIL representatives.
Two new award categories have been instituted in addition to the existing ones in the Emerging India Awards 2005-06. These are Women Entrepreneur of the Year and the Most Promising ‘Small’ Enterprise of the Year. The Awards will be held in the period Feb-March 2006.
The awards would be given away on a countrywide basis in ten different
categories:
1. Auto, Ancillaries and Engineering
2. Pharma & Chemicals
3. FMCG, Food & Agri-Business
4. Gems & Jewellery
5. Textiles & Apparel
6. Information Technology, Communications and Entertainment (ICE),
IT enabled Services (ITeS)
7. Infrastructure
8. Travel & Tourism
9. Retail Trade
10. Commodity Traders and Others
CNBC-TV18’s Emerging India Awards are presented by ICICI Bank. The Awards are powered by CRISIL. Air India and tradeindia.com are associate sponsors of the initiative. Moneycontrol.com powers the online registration process as well host the micro site for the initiative.
Participation is free and application forms are available at any of the
ICICI Bank branches or online on ww.moneycontol.com/cnbc/emergingindia.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. V. Vaidyanathan, Head – Retail Business, ICICI Bank, said,” ICICI Bank is proud to have partnered along with CNBC- TV18 to launch the Emerging India Awards-
India’s FirstAwards for recognising the achivements of SME’s.With the launch of the initiative last year, the awards are today reckoned as benchmark for excellence giving due recognition to SME’s”
Commenting on this initiative, Mr. Haresh Chawla, CEO, CNBC TV18, said “Feedback from SMEs across the country has encouraged us to come back stronger this year. We believe that CNBC-TV18 has been able to, in its own small way, contribute to the development of this important segment of the Economy. We are proud to partner ICICI Bank in this initiative and hope that they will continue to play a pivotal role in supporting the growth of the SME sector. Besides recognizing the best SMEs in different sectors, the Emerging India Awards have been instrumental in helping create benchmarks in a relatively un-organized space. This we believe will help address some key issues affecting SMEs: improved credit flow, access to technology and most importantly, access to quality talent – three of the most important concerns raised by SMEs across India.”
Mr. D Thyagarajan, Director-SME Rating, CRISIL Limited, said “SME’s play a vital role in keeping cost levels in the economy low. CRISIL will do all it can to encourage a sector that is so critical for India’s cost competitiveness.”
About CNBC-TV18:
CNBC-TVI8 is India’s No.1 business medium. CNBC-TV18 is the undisputed leader in the business. The channel’s benchmark coverage extends from corporate news, financial markets coverage, expert perspective on investing and management to industry verticals and beyond. CNBC-TV18 has been constantly innovating with new genres of programming that helps make business more relevant to different constituencies across India. CNBC-TV18 is currently available in over 26 million households in India
About ICICI Bank
ICICI Bank, India’s second largest bank, provides a broad spectrum of financial services to individuals and companies. ICICI Bank today
services a growing customer base of more than 10 million customer
accounts through a multi-channel access network including over 780
branches and extension counters, over 2000 ATMs and telephone, mobile and Internet banking (www.icicibank.com).
SME banking is a high growth area for ICICI Bank. ICICI Bank’s Small Enterprises Group is focused on providing complete banking solutions to SMEs including term loans, working capital, trade finance and transaction banking services. These services are provided by a dedicated team of over 500 professionals spread across 100 cites. The Bank leverages its network of over 780 interconnected branches and strong technology platform to provide state-of-the-art customized banking solutions to the SMEs. Some of its widely accepted products in the SME space are the Roaming Current Account which provides the convenience of anytime -anywhere banking and the Channel Finance facilities for meeting the financing needs of the channel partners of its corporate customers ICICI Bank has pioneered innovative credit-evaluation techniques, which goes beyond just the evaluation of SME firm’s financials and involves deep understanding of the SME business and the industry. This approach has substantially improved turnaround time for its customers. ICICI Bank’s SME business has grown substantially over the past few years. The total assets (including fund and non- fund facilities) and liability business of the bank in the SME space stands at over Rs.13, 500 crores.
About CRISIL
CRISIL is India’s leading Ratings, Financial News, Risk & Policy
Advisory Company. CRISIL leverages its core strengths of credibility and analytical rigour to deliver opinions and solutions that help clients
mitigate and manage their business and financial risks, make markets
function better, and help shape public policy. CRISIL supports these
through its unique width of product and service offerings. CRISIL is an
associate of S&P worldwide.
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Hanmer & Partners Communications Pvt. Ltd.
3rd Floor, Rehem Mansion I
42, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road
Colaba, Mumbai 400 001, INDIA
Tel: +91-22-56335969/55524600
Fax: +91-22-56335979
News Broadcasting
Network18 posts Rs 1,955 crore revenue, narrows FY26 losses
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.
