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US investment firm ups stake in Den Networks
MUMBAI: An existing US-based investing fund has expressed bullish in the shares of Den Networks, upping its stake by one per cent in the multi-system operator (MSO) for around Rs 145 million.
College Retirement Equities Fund has purchased 1.3 million shares, taking its total stake to 5.93 per cent in the Sameer Manchanda-promoted cable network.
TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund) Investment Management LLC, a financial services firm with $487 billion in assets under management, bought the shares on 11 July. Den Networks on that day opened at Rs 108.70 per share on the BSE and closed higher at Rs 112.75. The open market transaction, the price of which is undisclosed, would have been somewhere in between.
With 5.93 per cent stake, TIAA-CERF is the largest non-promoter shareholder of the company. Other shareholders in Den include StanChart IL and FS Asia Infrastructure G (4.98%) and Network 18 Media And Investments Limited (3.08%) among others. The firm is a leader in helping those in the academic, medical, cultural, governmental and research fields plan for retirement.
Den‘s stock climbed 7.29 per cent to close Friday at Rs 122.10 on the BSE.
“The purchase of Den‘s shares by an existing investor has been the main reason behind the stock going up. It remains to be seen whether this rally will sustain. The scrip price should logically go up just before digitisation in the four metros. There is still an element of uncertainty on whether the digitisation deadline sticks this time around, though the government has sent firm signals to the industry that there would be no further extension,” a media analyst at a broking firm said.
Besides cable TV distribution, Den is part of a joint venture company called Media Pro Enterprise India that distributes Star, Zee and Turner channels in India.
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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.
