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Design meets Electronics at HOT, the 24/7 single largest electronics retail outlet in the country
MUMBAI: Located at Delhi's Nehru Place metro station, HOT is India’s first 24X7 electronics store, catering to shoppers at any time throughout the week. Spread over a sprawling 40,000 square feet, HOT (House of Technology), is conceptualized and designed, by Idiom, a design and a strategy firm based in Bangalore
Over the course of 8 months, Idiom was empanelled to design the experience design for HOT a store dedicated to retailing technology and personal computing devices.
HOT has been envisioned as a store to provide boutique technology experience. A store that has something for everyone from 6 years old to 60.
The store has been designed to broadly divide itself into 2 zones – hosting business computing (servers, imaging solutions, printers) and personal computing (mobiles, cameras, tablets) technology.
Sonia Manchanda, Cofounder, Idiom said “There are various zones that have been created within the space, each offering a unique experience such as Play HOT Gives you the ultimate uninterrupted adrenaline filled gaming experience, HOT Shot has the latest cameras on display, HOT connect brings to you a range of wireless devices and mobile phones, HOT Life makes sure that the right lifestyle gadgets such as health monitoring devices are brought in for you. Every detail within the store has been well thought of. Be it the furniture, the signage system, the service delivery and even right down to the choice of uniform and accessories for the sales staff has been designed”
Girish Raj, Co-Founder, IDIOM said, “Consumers today are well-informed of technology products and have researched in advance, the specs, features, design, performance, cost, etc from tech review sites, consumer-experience sites and self-styled tech geeks. Their imagination has been triggered by numerous stimuli – product teasers, reviews, etc. They therefore want to see the gadgets, experience them to be early adopters, and not followers”. “We wanted to design a place where electronics is as hot as fashion. We designed an identity that is trendy and ever changing like fashion. The logo is symbolic of an experience that constantly gets refreshed and reloaded,” he added.
HOT also incorporates a groundbreaking concept of being open 24/7. House of Technology (HOT) designed by Idiom is definitely a concept that will take the Indian customers by surprise and also pose to be one of the best technologically designed store not just in India but in Asia.
Next time in Delhi, HOT is a store to watch out for!
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
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.
