India’s Media Moghul
Subhash Chandra, member of Rajya Sabha and chairman of Essel Group & Zee, is known for revolutionising the television industry by launching the country’s first satellite television channel Zee TV in 1992, and later the first private news channel, Zee News. Chandra’s Essel Group has presence across media, entertainment, packaging, infrastructure, education, precious metals, finance and technology sectors.
In 2017, Chandra’s estimated net worth was Rs 35,327 ($6.2 billion). He is also ranked amongst the top 500 billionaires of the world.
Today under his leadership, ZEE as a brand has achieved global recognition and reaches over 1 billion viewers in 171 countries. It offers programming in genres such as general entertainment, lifestyle, movies, English and regional languages and alternative lifestyles. Buoyed by this growth and reach, the group is aiming to target 4 billion viewers by 2020. Essel Group’s infrastructure unit in collaboration with Golden Concord Holdings China has started a $2 billion solar-equipment project in Andhra Pradesh, India. Moreover, to lend support the government’s Swachh Bharat initiative, Essel roped in Hitachi, as technology partner, a few years ago to convert municipal solid waste into power.
The group also owns Asia’s largest direct-to-home entertainment company, Dish TV, which is among the pioneers when it comes to digital entertainment. In 2017, Essel Finance Management, the financial services arm of Essel Group, announced the launch of a new fund for small and medium enterprises with a Rs 300-crore corpus to invest in emerging companies.
For his outstanding contributions to the media industry, Chandra was awarded the 2011 International Emmy Directorate Award at the 39th International Emmy Awards in New York. He is the first to receive the award recognising excellence in television programming outside the United States. In 2017, to commemorate 90 years of Essel Group, Chandra pledged Rs 5,000 crore of his family wealth towards philanthropic initiatives of his newly launched Subhash Chandra Foundation.
