Andhra Prabha Publication MD Goutam Mootha looking to sell majority stake in India Ahead

Goutam Mootha, Managing Director of Andhra Prabha Publication, is looking at selling a majority stake in English news channel India Ahead.

Highly placed sources have confirmed this development to exchange4media. We reached out to Mootha but were not able to get a response.

Among those interested in picking up the stake are Rajeev Chandrasekar, a group led by Bhupendra Chaubey, and another group led by another professional entrepreneur.

Sources have also revealed that Chandrasekhar’s Jupiter Capital is looking to buy 51 per cent stake for Rs 25-30 crore.

It has also been known that a group of journalists and professionals led by Chaubey is also trying to raise capital to buy a majority stake in India Ahead.

India Ahead was successfully launched by a team headed by Chetan Sharma. The channel was launched in record time and cost. It has been facing a cash crunch for a while now. Sharma is now launching his own education venture, to be announced shortly

Andhra Prabha was founded in Chennai on August 15, 1938, by Ramnath Goenka's Indian Express Group and was published from the interior towns of Andhra Pradesh. In the 1950s, the group posed a challenge to then leading Telugu newspaper, Andhra Patrika. It is now one of the biggest media groups operating out of the southern region.

In an internal note, Mootha apprised the employees of the way forward for the publication.

“Today, India Ahead (IA) is at the cusp of chartering a new course to deal with these changing times and adopting a "fresh start and approach" which I hope and am certain would steer our News Channel towards a path-breaking journey. History is witness that some of the best and most innovative enterprises take root during tough times and such enterprises which survive tough times and display resilience and humaneness are the ones that are led by a dedicated and passionate team.  I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all members of "Team IA" for having weathered the “pandemic” storm and staying true to our core values and in endeavouring to support each other in staying safe and ensuring delivery to our esteemed viewers.

I would like to place on record the immense work put in by Chetan Sharma, who came on board IA during its formative years as the first CEO and steered it through with meticulous planning and put in place a platform in a record time, thus enabling us to move forward with more vigour.

After seeing the channel through some momentous events in the short history of IA - such as General Elections in the world's largest democracy, Parliament sessions, Pulwama attacks etc, Chetan has decided to move on to pursue other interests that are close to his heart, in the areas of teaching and writing. I, personally wish him all the very best in his endeavors and he shall ever remain in the hearts of "Team IA".

My vision for India Ahead, as a promoter, is to stay nimble, fast, relevant; and in this era of technology, I would like us to be seen, perceived and accepted by our viewers as a "Tech Enabled Electronic Media" driven by News Channel at the front end and fuelled by a robust "Digital Platform" at the back end. With the advent of the following team members joining today, I foresee a tectonic shift in the process & methodology of delivering news. Your experience, energy and passion should usher in a new era for India Ahead.

Though I have been in the media business for two decades, I still consider myself an eager student as new and innovative forms and channels to stream news keep surfacing with various technologies and innovations in play. I wish to strongly advocate and urge ourselves to be a startup in this domain; thus triggering new ideas and thoughts that would disrupt this space. We should be battle ready to plough ourselves through all situations and cover news that reaches our viewers at all times.

Today, I declare the heralding of version 2.0 of India Ahead in the middle of this covid 19 pandemic, but with renewed vigour and a “will" to ensure that we stand out in delivering News in a format that shows nothing but excellence!!

I hereby welcome the following team members and embrace them into our fold. Each of you have been handpicked to take up this challenge to turn our News Channel / platform, from a vibrant startup to one of the most exciting enterprises in this domain:

Sudeep Mukhia - Group President, News Room Operations & Editorial Strategies

Amit Goel – President, National Editorial Affairs

Sudha Sadanand - President, Editorial Affairs

Arjun Pandey - President, Sales, Marketing, New Strategies & Collaborations