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WWIL consumes Rs 2.12 bn from rights issue
MUMBAI: Wire and Wireless (India) Limited (WWIL) has mopped up Rs 2.12 billion from the first tranche of its Rs 4.5 billion rights issue.
The remaining amount will pour in by March-end as the Subhash Chandra-promoted cable TV distribution company plans to go aggressive on its Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) operations.
“WWIL has utilised the entire Rs 2.12 billion. The company has repaid Rs 1.6 billion towards unsecured loans. Investment has also been made for HITS and some acquisitions,” WWIL CEO Sudhir Agarwal tells Indiantelevision.com.
WWIL has invested Rs 1.5 billion for HITS and is the lone operator in this segment so far.
The company has widened its third-quarter consolidated net loss to Rs 344.58 million as revenue dropped 12 per cent. WWIL also took a knock of around Rs 140 million losses from HITS.
WWIL had posted a loss of Rs 226.74 million in the year-ago period.
“We are expanding the market through HITS. In the same period of last fiscal, we hadn‘t started these operations,” says Agarwal.
Operating revenues fell 12 per cent to Rs 722.2 million for the quarter ended 31 December 2009, compared to Rs 817.9 million in the prior year.
“The television distribution market in India is fast changing, with visible signs of progression towards a digital environment. The HITS policy announcement this quarter is a positive indication and I am confident that digital cable will also start playing an important role in the digitization of television,” says WWIL chairman Subhash Chandra.
Expenses in the quarter dipped marginally by 2 per cent at Rs 793.6 million, compared to Rs 810.3 million in the year-ago period. WWIL has streamlined staff and content costs over the quarters.
Operating loss for the quarter was Rs 71.3 million, as against an operating profit of Rs 7.7 million in the prior year.
The operating profit for analogue business in Q3 was Rs 61 million compared to an operating profit of Rs 8 million.
Says Agarwal, “The initial rollout of HITS has focused on tapping critical tier-II and tier-III cities and we are scaling up at decent pace. I am confident that going forward, HITS shall be a win-win proposition for WWIL, its consumers and stakeholders.”
WWIL promoters pledged 32.2 million shares, or 11.2 per cent of their stake, amounting to 7.1 per cent equity of the company.
Shares of WWIL closed Friday at Rs 19.15 on the BSE, down 2.54 per cent from its previous close.
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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.
