IBT Media appoints former JWT digital head Mohit Hira as president and country head, India

Hira's mandate is to create a brand out of a well-built product with market-facing initiatives and content reinforcement.

IBT Media India has appointed Mohit Hira as president and country head of its India operations. With seven digital editions in four languages spread across the globe, IBT media specialises in real-time business news, intelligence, and economic analyses. Its Indian edition (www.ibtimes.co.in) headquarted in Bengaluru, and led by Chandra Mohan, managing director, has been operational since 2011.

"Hira's mandate is to create a brand out of a well-built product with market-facing initiatives and content reinforcement," says Mohan.

Welcoming Hira on board, Dev Pragad, managing director, IB Times, EMEA (with which the Indian operations are aligned), says, "We were impressed with Hira's deep understanding of digital publishing. His advertising and publishing background puts him in the perfect position to take IBT Media in India to the next level. We look forward to work closely with him."

Talking about his appointment, Hira says, "IB Times presents a unique opportunity to take a popular digital destination to the next level. In my interactions with Pragad and Mohan, their infectious start-up attitude convinced me of the opportunity to leverage my experience. The website is rich in content and is engineered for on-the-go readers who need credible updates on business news through the day. Now it's time to turn it into a consumer-facing brand and socialise it."

Hira, in his last assignment was chief executive and publisher of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka-owned Open Media Network which publishes the Open Magazine. Hira was also responsible for re-launching Open's website, strengthening its sales team and re-positioning the brand. Before joining Open, he was CEO at Hungama Digital Services (HDS), and digital head at J Walter Thompson India, as well as regional business head on the Airtel account. Hira had joined JWT from NIIT, where he was president of its B2C global online learning business that he had started.