Rohit Bansal climbs a rung at India TV

Rohit Bansal has been appointed chief operating officer of Independent News Service, the holding company of India TV. Bansal, 40, has been with India TV since September 2004. Prior to being made COO, he was managing editor handling integrated marketing.

India TV managing director Ritu Dhawan says, “As part of our core team, Rohit has contributed to the India TV growth story in a significant way. He gets into detail and has a rapport and trust with the team. I’m sure his formalisation as COO, Independent News Service, will challenge Rohit to do even better.”

On his part, Bansal says he places a premium on execution. “Today, we have top quality leadership in INS as well as the strategic blueprint to match up to the best media companies in India. Therefore, this year, our focus will be on executing – and executing better than everyone else.”

In his 16-plus years as a media professional, Bansal has held a mix of corporate, branding and editorial positions in both TV and print: as resident editor of The Financial Express in Delhi; head of the Delhi operations of Burson-Marsteller Roger Pereira; general manager, marketing and business development, Suncity Projects and Essel Housing; and channel brand manager, Zee News.

Bansal started with The Times of India as a trainee in 1992 and quickly reached the position of senior business correspondent at the newspaper. Next, he shifted to Television18 as special correspondent for Asia Business News. In 1997, he moved to Zee Telefilms as the launch editor of Zee Business.

Bansal is an alumnus of St Stephen’s College, The Times Centre for Media Studies and the University of Westminster in London. He has interned in Scotland for The Sunday Times.