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FIPB green signals Star’s proposal to up stake in Tata Sky?
MUMBAI: The DTH sector has been seeing some hectic jostling for market share and customer acquisition. Now it is about to get another shot of hyperactivity if a report in the Financial Express is to be believed. According to the report, the Foreign Investment Promotions Board (FIPB) has green signaled Star’s proposal to take a stake in its (49 per cent: 51 per cent) joint venture with the Tatas – TS Investments – which will then take a 20 per cent stake in their DTH joint venture, Tata Sky. It will also inject Rs 3.24 billion into Tata Sky.
The report states that following TS Investments’ investment in Tata Sky, Star’s stake in Tata Sky will go up to 30 per cent (sic) while that of the Tata group will come down from the current 70 per cent to 50 per cent.
Star had earlier applied to increase its stake in the joint venture. But it had resubmitted its proposal once again as the earlier one had not adequately taken care of the foreign direct investment and cross media regulations in DTH ventures.
The resubmitted proposal, envisages the shareholding pattern in Tata Sky ending up being as follows: Tata Sons (50 per cent), TS Investments (20 per cent), Baytree Investments Mauritius (10 per cent) and Dubai-based Network Digital Distribution Services (NDDS – 20 percent). NDDS is part of the Star group.
What paved the way for the proposal to get the go ahead was the government’s amendment to its FDI policy last year that stated that investment through companies owned and controlled by Indians would not count in the calculation of foreign investment. In the Star proposal, since TS Investments is majority owned by Tata Sons, Star’s stake in it is not being considered as FDI, says a source in the finance ministry.
Additionally, the new Star proposal addressed the issue of cross media restrictions. Since both NDDS and Star India BV (a Dutch company which is investing in TS Investments) do not hold an uplink and downlink license (the criteria to be called a broadcaster in India), they are not contravening the cross media investment restriction of 20 per cent laid on broadcasting companies.
Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik refused to comment on whether the proposal had got the government’s go ahead. And Star India CEO Uday Shankar who had taken a flight to Europe last night was unavailable. Sources within Star stated that they had not yet got the official confirmation from on the same and hence would not like to comment.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
