Sidharth Sonthalia promoted as AGM, New Indian Express

He will look after the newspaper operations in Tamil Nadu.

The New Indian Express Group has appointed Siddharth Sonthalia as assistant general manager. Promoted last month, he will look after the newspaper operations in Tamil Nadu. Sonthalia also holds the position of executive director, Express Networks where he takes care of the Group's internet business. He was appointed to the position in February 2013.

A graduate in business management from Australia, he popularised the web-first mindset in the Express Group with making breaking news realtime breaks. He focussed on promoting mobile apps to encourage young readers access NIE papers on their smart phones and pushed content aggressively to social media. The Group claims that the reforms have helped the Group's internet division record a 7 per cent growth against the industry average of 2 per cent.

He has also turned around the web-presence of Dinamani and Express Online. Sonthalia is exploring fresh possibilities - creating a new platform for online readers, partnering with startups to diversify the Group's portfolio and plans to capture the imagination of new generations of college-goers in semi-urban rural areas.

He learned the basics of work in a variety of departments like marketing and accounts and joined the group when he was 23.