iWorld
ALT-Balaji a ray of hope in a productionless Covid quarter for Balaji Telefilms
BENGALURU: The most successful television content and film production house in India, the Shobha Kapoor and Ektaa Kapoor led Balaji Telefilms Limited (Balaji) reported a standalone loss of Rs 1.40 crore on a standalone operating revenue of Rs 21.17 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2020 (Q1 2021, quarter or period under review). Balaji reported a consolidated loss of Rs 27.9 crore for the period under review per an investor presentation. For the corresponding year ago quarter (Q1 2020), Balaji had reported consolidated loss of Rs 42.2 crore on consolidated operating revenue of Rs 90.5 crore. Balaji had reported standalone profit of Rs 10.43 crore in Q1 2020 on a standalone revenue of Rs 116.07 crore. Consolidated EBIDTA for Q1 2021 was a loss of Rs 26.30 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 32.33 crore for Q1 2020.
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Hit by a halt in all production during most of Q1 2021, Balaji has reported consolidated operating revenue of Rs 35.1 crore. A big chunk of the operating revenue – Rs 14.9 crore, came in from Balaji Telefilms OTT platform ALT-Balaji. The company says in a press release that ALT-Balaji subscription revenue increased to Rs 12.9 crore in Q1 2021, while for Q1 2020, ALT Balaji’s reported subscription revenue of Rs 6.7 crore.
Segment revenue
Commissioned programmes
Revenue from Balaji’s commissioned programmes during the quarter under review was less than one-twentieth of the revenue for the corresponding year ago quarter. Balaji reported operating revenue for its Commissioned programmes segment at Rs 4.10 crore for Q1 2021 which was 95.6 percent lower than the Rs 93.17 crore in Q1 2020. The segment reported an operating loss of Rs 6.33 crore in Q1 2021 as compared to an operating profit of Rs 9.67 crore in Q1 2020.
Films segment
Revenue from Balaji’s Films segment was 17.49 crore in Q1 2021 as compared to Rs 1.67 crore in Q1 2020. The segment had an operating profit of Rs 5.27 crore as compared to a small loss of Rs 0.10 crore in Q1 2020.
Digital segment (ALT-Balaji)
Revenue from Balaji’s Digital segment (OTT segment – ALT-Balaji) in Q1 2021 increased 20.9 percent to Rs 14.90 crore as compared to Rs 12.33 crore in Q1 2020. The segment had a lower operating loss of Rs 25.79 crore in Q1 2021 as compared to an operating loss of Rs 36.83 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.
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Let us look at the other numbers reported by Balaji
Consolidated total income for Q1 2021 at Rs 40.79 crore was 56 percent lower y-o-y as compared to Rs 92.75 crore. Consolidated total expenses for Q1 2021 fell 48.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 69.57 crore from Rs 134.30 crore.
Consolidated cost of production declined 69 percent in Q1 2021 to Rs 26.53 crore as compared to Rs 85.69 crore in Q1 2020. Consolidated marketing and distribution expenses in Q1 2021 declined 47.6 percent to Rs 6.07 crore from Rs 11.57 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated employee benefits expense in Q1 2021 declined 53.9 percent to Rs 5.52 crore from Rs 11.08 crore in Q1 2020. Consolidated other expenses in Q1 2020 reduced 32.9 percent to Rs 13.20 crore from Rs 19.68 crore in Q1 2020.
Company speak
Balaji Telefilms Limited managing director Shobha Kapoor said through a press release, “The quarter has been particularly challenging as all content production activity came to a stop. However, our digital businesses have performed well and we are well positioned to grow that business. We remain confident that our TV business will return to more normal levels of content production as our teams have adapted to shooting under the new rules following all health and safety requirements, we now have 6 shows on air and a couple more in the pipeline. We have initiated several cost optimisation programs during the quarter and should continue to see the benefits of these programs as content production volumes return.”
iWorld
Netflix celebrates a decade in India with Shah Rukh Khan-narrated tribute film
MUMBAI: Netflix is celebrating ten years in India with a slick anniversary film voiced by Shah Rukh Khan, a nostalgic sprint through a decade that rewired how the country watches stories. The campaign doubles as both tribute and reminder: streaming did not just enter Indian homes, it quietly rearranged them.
Roll back to 2016 and television still dictated schedules. Viewers waited weeks, sometimes months, for favourite films to appear on prime time. Family-friendly filters narrowed options further, and piracy often filled the gaps. Then Netflix arrived, softly but decisively, carrying a catalogue of international titles rarely seen in Indian theatres and placing them a click away. Old blockbusters and new releases suddenly coexisted on the same digital shelf.
The platform’s real inflection point came in 2018 with Sacred Games, a breakout series that refused to dilute India’s grit for global comfort. Audiences embraced its unvarnished tone, signalling readiness for stories that did not need box-office validation or censorship compromises. What followed was a steady procession of relatable narratives. Competitive-exam anxiety fuelled Kota Factory. College relationships unfolded in Mismatched. Everyday pressures, not grand spectacle, proved bankable.
Language barriers thinned as foreign series arrived with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbing, expanding viewership beyond urban English-speaking pockets. Marketing mirrored the shift. For global releases such as Squid Game, Netflix leaned on regional creators and influencers to localise buzz and make international content feel native.
The library widened beyond fiction. Documentaries stepped out of festival circuits into living rooms. Stand-up comedians found scale. Established filmmakers, including Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Heeramandi, embraced the platform’s long-form canvas. Subscriber numbers swelled to 12.37 million in India, according to Demandsage, and behaviour followed suit. Late-night binges became routine. Friday release rituals loosened. Watch parties turned solitary screens into social events.
Economics demanded adjustment. Early subscription pricing carried a premium aura that deterred many households. Over time, Netflix recalibrated plans to align with Indian spending sensibilities, conceding that accessibility is as critical as content. To extend momentum around marquee titles, the platform also experimented with split-season releases, stretching anticipation and watch time.
The anniversary film, narrated by Shah Rukh Khan, captures the linguistic shift that mirrors the cultural one: from “Netflix pe kya dekha?” to “Netflix pe kya dekhein?” The question moved from recounting the past to planning the next binge. In ten years, Netflix morphed from foreign entrant to familiar fixture, exporting Indian stories abroad while importing global ones home. The remote no longer waits; it chooses, clicks and moves on. In the streaming age, patience is out, playlists are in, and the next episode is always one tap away.
e-commerce
Tulasi Mohan Padavala elevated to Associate Director at Blinkit
Gurugram: Blinkit has elevated Tulasi Mohan Padavala to associate director, capping a three-year climb inside the quick-commerce firm and signalling confidence in an executive steeped in ecommerce, category management and on-ground sales execution.
Padavala shared the update publicly, saying he was “happy to share” the promotion, a succinct announcement that nevertheless marks a notable step up within one of India’s fastest-moving delivery platforms. The new role follows nearly three years at Blinkit, where he most recently served as senior category manager from February 2023 to January 2026, focusing on strategic sourcing and assortment planning.
The promotion places Padavala in Blinkit’s mid-to-senior leadership tier at a time when the company continues to expand its rapid-delivery footprint and sharpen category economics. His brief tenure as associate director began in January 2026, with responsibilities expected to span category growth, supplier strategy and cross-functional execution.
Before Blinkit, Padavala spent a short but intensive stint as global ecommerce manager at Wholsum Foods, the parent of Slurrp Farm and Millé, between November 2022 and February 2023. There he worked on digital marketplace expansion and online retail operations, adding a direct-to-consumer and international ecommerce layer to his résumé.
A longer stretch at Amazon shaped much of his cross-border commerce experience. As business development manager for Amazon’s India Global Selling programme from February 2021 to October 2022, Padavala helped Indian D2C brands enter the North American market. His remit ranged from seller recruitment and category revenue management to coordination with industry bodies, regulators and logistics partners. Key outcomes included launching more than 50 D2C consumable brands in the United States, driving a cumulative gross merchandise sales figure of $1m in FY21-22, tripling sales for participating brands during Prime Day through marketing and visibility levers, growing the monthly recurring revenue of more than 10 newly launched sellers from zero to an average $20,000 each, and negotiating ecommerce partnerships that reduced initial launch costs by 20 per cent.
Padavala’s earlier career was forged in the field rather than the dashboard. At Coffee Day Group, he spent close to five years across multiple sales leadership roles. As sales manager in the Greater Delhi Area from July 2019 to January 2021, he led vending-machine and consumables sales for small and medium enterprises with a team of more than 15 assistant and territory sales managers, managed over 2,000 clients, drove upselling and cross-selling, maintained channel partnerships and ensured timely collections. Prior to that, he served as area sales manager in Delhi between May 2018 and June 2019, handling south and east Delhi markets, and earlier in Hyderabad from April 2016 to May 2018, where he led Andhra Pradesh sales for the vending division, supervised service and logistics functions and managed a base of more than 600 machines with a four-member team.
His professional arc began with internships that combined analytics and process improvement. At Boehringer Ingelheim in 2015, Padavala analysed the impact of brand extension on the drug Pradaxa, identified key performance indicators through market research and assessed sales forecasts, recommendations that drew positive responses in pilot studies. Earlier, at Genpact in 2014, he automated manual sales-order backlog reporting using VBA and Excel, increasing efficiency by 800 per cent, and worked on benchmarking metrics within supply-chain planning processes.
From automating spreadsheets to scaling cross-border ecommerce and now steering quick-commerce categories, Padavala’s trajectory tracks the evolution of India’s retail economy itself. Blinkit’s bet is clear: blend data, discipline and delivery speed. The promotion formalises what his career already suggests. In the race for instant commerce, experience that moves from warehouse floors to global dashboards is no longer optional. It is the engine.
e-commerce
Bharatpe plays a super over as Rohit Sharma fronts T20 push
MUMBAI: When the stakes rise and seconds matter, even payments need a match-winning finish. That’s the cue for Bharatpe, which has rolled out Super Over, a nationwide campaign led by Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma, timed neatly ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The campaign draws a straight line between the pulse of cricket and the pace of everyday digital payments. A new brand film taps into India’s emotional bond with the game, while positioning UPI as the quiet hero that keeps daily transactions ticking along at match speed.
As part of Super Over, users making payments via Bharatpe UPI can bag daily rewards ranging from match tickets and signed merchandise to a chance to watch a T20 World Cup fixture alongside Rohit Sharma himself. Both consumers and merchants are also assured Zillion Coins on every eligible transaction, adding a little extra sparkle to routine payments.
Behind the scenes, Bharatpe is also batting for safety. The platform is backed by Bharatpe Shield, a fraud-protection layer designed to offer enhanced security, comprehensive coverage and dedicated support aimed at helping users transact with greater confidence as digital payments scale up.
Announcing the campaign, Bharatpe head of marketing Shilpi Kapoor said Super Over mirrors the aspirations of everyday Indians, combining speed, security and instant rewards to make UPI transactions feel both reliable and rewarding.
The campaign will play out across digital platforms, social media and on-ground activations nationwide, staying live through the T20 World Cup season proof that in cricket, as in payments, timing is everything.
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