"India is as competitive a market as it gets": Satyan Gajwani, Times Internet

In an exclusive interview with afaqs!, the vice chairman of Times Internet Ltd shares the story behind the story.

Last year, in a unique move for non-listed companies, Times Internet Ltd (TIL) released an annual report sharing its income details. If the move itself was unprecedented, the numbers came as a surprise for many in the industry.

The digital arm of media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd revealed that it ended FY19 (April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019) with a staggering Rs 1,359 crore in revenue. According to the presentation, it was a 40 per cent growth compared to FY18 (April 2017 to March 2018).

"While we are a private company, we have many internal and external stakeholders, and publishing this builds understanding, alignment and accountability to our goals," wrote Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman of TIL.

In FY20 (April 2019 to March 2020), TIL revenues grew to Rs 1,625 crore. Advertising revenue grew by 22 per cent. Times Prime and its underlying products' subscribers grew by 62 per cent to cross the two million mark.

Gajwani defines TIL as the "largest Indian digital consumer platform". Its media assets span news (The Times of India and The Economic Times), sports (Cricbuzz), lifestyle (Indiatimes), music (Gaana), and video (MX Player). Enablement platforms serve users across personal finance (ETMoney), real estate (Magicbricks), education (Gradeup), and food (Dineout). It has a bundled subscription offering, TimesPrime.

TIL employs 6,000 people, and at the helm of it is Gajwani, who is often credited for building the empire brick by brick. One of the boldest 'building' moves was the Rs 1,000 crore acquisition of local video playing app MX Player. Today, Gajwani claims it to be the largest premium OTT platform, over Hotstar and ZEE5.

Gajwani, who has been with TIL since 2012 and before that, with its parent since 2008, ends the report on an ambitious note, "Our aspiration is to reach one billion Indians, and become a $1 billion (around Rs 7,300 crore) revenue company by 2025.

In an exclusive interview with afaqs!, Gajwani shares the story behind the story.

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