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Govt rules out relaxation in digitisation deadline in 4 metros
NEW DELHI: Ruling out any further shift in digitisation deadline, the Government has told local cable operators (LCOs) that there will be no relaxation in the sunset date for shutting off analogue and switching on to digital access systems by 1 November 2012 in the four metros.
Information and Broadcasting Ministry Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) Supriya Sahu also told the LCOs that all issues that they still had should be sorted out with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Sahu said that arrangements had been made for seeding a sufficient number of digital set top boxes in the metros, and said there was no reason for LCOs to protest the digitisation mandate.
She also said that problems related to registration in local post offices could be sorted out locally and need not be brought to the Ministry. The LCOs were complaining that registration was being given for only up to one year and there was no guarantee that it would be extended.
Later in a meeting with Trai chairman Dr Khuller, the LCOs were told there could be no change of Rs 45 in the share of the LCOs in the subscriber fee as this had been cleared by Parliament.
The cable operators who had come from different parts of the country and were led by A S Kohli of Delhi sought to plead with Trai that the rate could be not be lower than the one they were already getting, and also reiterated that the entire work of maintenance and bill collection was being done by them and not the multi-system operators.
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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.
