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Hathway seeks to shave off debt
MUMBAI: India‘s leading MSO Hathway Cable & Datacom says it will be using the Rs 100 crore it has raised from the sale of its equity shares to alternative asset manager Steadview Capital Mauritius Ltd (SCML), LTR Focus Fund, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) SCM to retire some of its debt.
Says Hathway Cable & Datacom MD and CEO Jagdish Kumar G. Pillai: “Most of the money raised will be used to reduce our debt and to make our debt-equity ratio better. With Phase III and IV coming up soon we are open to opportunities, but at this point of time we are well funded.”
One of the stars of the digitisation of cable TV rollout in India, Hathway today informed the BSE that it had preferentially allotted 35,21,000 Rs 10 face value shares to the three entities at a price of Rs 284 each. The company‘s board had got shareholder approval on 26 September for the same during the course of an extra ordinary general meeting.
 | “Most of the money raised will be used to reduce our debt and to make our debt-equity ratio better,” says Hathway Cable & Datacom MD and CEO Jagdish Kumar G. Pillai |
The break-up of the allotment is as follows: Steadview Capital Mauritius Limited (12,00,000 equities), LTR Focus Fund (8,01,000 equities) and MIT SCM (15,20,000 equities) totting up to Rs 99.99 crore.
The company‘s equity capital has increased to 15,19,98,900 shares from 14,84,77,900 prior to the allotment. SCML‘s holding in the company has jumped from 0.0008 per cent to 0.79 per cent; similarly for LTR from 0.0004 per cent to 0.53 per cent and the shareholding of MIT SCM has risen from 0.0008 per cent to one per cent. The investment has a lock in period of one year from the date of receipt of trading approval.
The promoter holding has in tandem fallen from 48.63 per cent to 47.51 per cent of the expanded share capital.
The stock market reacted positively to the news with the share closing at Rs 285.70 following its opening of Rs 270.70 and an intra-day high of Rs 288.
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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.
