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Changhong mulls JV for STB manufacture in India
MUMBAI: The $7.5-billion China-headquartered Changhong Group is considering setting up a joint venture company to manufacture set-top boxes (STBs) in India.
The manufacturing base, the location of which is yet to be firmed up, will be set up within a year.
“Even if we set up a joint venture, we will have a controlling stake. We may also decide to do it on our own,” says Sichuan Changhong Network Technologies country manager for India Martin Jiang.
Changhong Group manufactures the STBs through its subsidiary company Sichuan Changhong Network Technologies.
The company plans to have a base that would be able to sell two million STBs a year in India‘s rapidly growing digital market.
But why manufacture in India when China is known for scale of economies? “There is a need to set up base and service the market from India. We are also looking at local players for contract manufacturing,” says Jiang.
The manufacturing base could be either in Mumbai or in Delhi. The company already has an office in Mumbai and supplies STBs to clients like InCablenet and Manthan.
“We started in 2008-end and have already sold three million STBs in the Indian market,” says Jiang.
The company‘s China unit has a manufacturing capacity of 12 million boxes.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
