Raghav Bahl

Raghav Bahl is an Indian businessman, a serial entrepreneur, and an investor best known for his past ownership of several television channels, including TV18 India. He was the Founding/Controlling shareholder & managing director of Network18 Group, a media group that he started in 1993 and grew into one of the largest collection of media properties in India.[1]

Raghav Bahl
Bahl at Forbes Life India Launch
Alma materSt. Stephen's College
FMS, Delhi
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder & former MD, Network18 Group
Founder, Quintillion Media
Spouse(s)Ritu Kapur
ChildrenTara Bahl, Vidur Bahl

At its peak, the group controlled by Raghav Bahl included media and internet-based media outlets such as in.com, IBNLive.com, Moneycontrol.com, Firstpost.com, Cricketnext, Homeshop18, bookmyshow.com, Forbes India, TV channels such as Colors and some in partnership with international media groups such as NBC TV18, CNN-IBN, IBN7, MTV, and CNBC Awaaz.[1][2]

By late 2011, according to a LiveMint article, Bahl's media group had a large debt, was running in loss and banks were unwilling to lend the group additional capital.[1] Bahl's group sought capital from the Reliance Industries Ltd in 2012, and two years later Reliance took over the media empire and Bahl left the Network18 group on 29 May 2014.[1][2][3]

After departing from the Network18 group, Bahl co-founded Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd with his wife Ritu Kapur. This media group controls Thequint.com.[4][5] Bahl's new venture entered a joint venture agreement with Bloomberg L.P. to launch BloombergQuint in 2016.[6]

Early life

He received his schooling from St. Xavier's School, Delhi. He graduated in Economics Honors from St. Stephens College, and then did a Masters in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies.[7]

Career

He began his career as a management consultant with A.F. Ferguson & Co., followed by a stint with American Express Bank, and later moved on to media. Raghav has over 22 years experience in television and journalism.[8]

He started his career in media in 1985 as a Correspondent and Anchorperson for Doordarshan. He was the Anchorperson and Production Consultant for India's first monthly video news magazine, Newstrack, produced by the India Today group. From 1991 to 1993, he was the Executive Director of Business India Television and produced the Business India Show and Business A.M. on Doordarshan.

In 1999, he launched CNBC-TV18. He was responsible for directing most of the work of TV18 and channels like CNBC-Awaaz, Nickelodeon and Colors. Raghav served as the managing director of TV18 Group till July 2014.

By attracting media talent such as Rajdeep Sardesai and Sameer Manchanda, Bahl built an audience for his media properties.

By late 2011, Bahl's media group had amassed a large debt, was running in loss and banks were unwilling to lend the group additional capital.[1] Bahl's group sought capital from the Reliance Industries Ltd in 2012.[1] Bahl then brought the losses in his group under control, laid off hundreds of employees in his media group, closed or trimmed many of the properties within the group, according to the LiveMint.[1][9]

Two years later, in 2014, under the terms of this financing agreement, Reliance took over the Network18 group. With the change in ownership, Bahl left the Network18 Group in 2014.[1]

After leaving the Network18 Group, he founded Quintillion Media, a digital startup that publishes The Quint, along with his wife Ritu Kapur on 8 July 2014.

Writing

He has authored two books:

  • Superpower? The Amazing Race Between China's Hare & India's Tortoise (Penguin, 2012)
  • SuperEconomies: America, China, India and the Future of the World (Penguin, 2016)

Awards
  • In 1994, the World Economic Forum called Raghav a Global Leader of Tomorrow, and he won India's Sanskriti Award for Journalism.
  • In 2007, he was named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year for Business Transformation.
  • In 2008, he won the Indian Telly Award for Lifetime Contribution to Indian Television.
  • In 2011, he won the All India Management Association's Media Person of the Year award, as well as the Bombay Management Association's prize for Entrepreneur of the Year.[10]
  • In 2017, he won the ISOMES SAMMAN by BAG Network24's in their Media Fest "MANTHAN".[11]

Controversy
  • The Income tax department had raided Bahl's premises in Noida in October 2018 on charges of "bogus long term capital gains (LTCG) received by various beneficiaries" and other charges of tax evasion.[12]
  • Bahl had allegedly made ₹1.14 billion out of an investment of ₹30.3 million made in a penny stock company called PMC Fincorp that was promoted by a certain Raj Kumar Modi in 2011. Raj Kumar Modi is managing director of PMC Fincorp. [13]
  • ED also filed a case against Bahl regarding Money Laundering.

[14]

References
  1. Inside the Network18 takeover, Ashish Mishra, LiveMint (The Hindustan Times Gp), (25 Jun 2014)
  2. Reliance Takes Over Network18: Is This The Death Of Media Independence?, Forbes, Megha Bahree (30 May 2019)
  3. "My dream to own a newspaper is dead". The Financial Express. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  4. ideas@global-initiative.com, Global Initiative. "Ritu Kapur | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism". University of Oxford. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  5. "The Newsmaker – Ritu Kapur". Outlook Business. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  6. Choudhary, Vidhi (26 January 2016). "Bloomberg said to be in talks with Raghav Bahl for joint venture". Livemint. HT Media Ltd. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  7. "FMS alumnus and media baron writes book on next superpower". Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  8. Book Review: Super Power. Daily Express. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  9. Reliance and right-wing politics gain a foothold in Raghav Bahl's media empire, Rahul Bhatia, The Caravan Magazine, (30 November 2013)
  10. "Raghav Bahl's mobile-first news site the Quint goes live – ETtech".
  11. "News 24 honours Shobhana Bhartia with ISOMES Samman 2018 – News24online". Dailyhunt. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  12. https://www.scroll.in/article/897932/income-tax-raids-on-raghav-bahl-quint-and-news-minute-raise-questions-of-media-intimidation
  13. https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/10/22/part-1-quint-raghav-bahl-quint-it-raid-pmc-fincorp-shares
  14. https://www.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/ed-files-money-laundering-case-against-journalist-raghav-bahl/amp_articleshow/69691946.cms
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