India Today’s Manoj Sharma elected President of the Association of Indian Magazines

The Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) has announced the election of its new office bearers for the upcoming term, following its Annual General Meeting held in New Delhi.

The newly elected leadership team includes Manoj Sharma, CEO (publishing & experiential), India Today Group (Living Media India), as president; Dhaval Gupta, director, CyberMedia, as vice-president; Anurag Batra, chairman and editor-in-chief, BW Businessworld, as general secretary; and Riyad Mathew, chief associate editor & director, The Week, as treasurer.

Speaking on his election, Manoj Sharma, the newly elected president of AIM, said:
“This is a pivotal moment for the magazine medium. AIM has done important groundwork over the past few years to rebuild our distribution backbone and strengthen our voice. The new leadership team looks forward to carrying this work forward with greater energy, sharper focus, and stronger collaborations to grow magazine readership, advertising, and relevance.”

Outgoing president Anant Nath, executive publisher, Delhi Press, in his address at the AGM, expressed his gratitude to AIM members and the executive team for their support and collective efforts during his tenure. Reflecting on the past few years, he highlighted AIM’s role in revitalising the magazine ecosystem through collaborative initiatives that have positioned magazines as a trusted, multi-platform medium.

IMC 2025 saw the announcement of three major initiatives- the launch of a WAVES OTT magazine store in partnership with Prasar Bharati; a shared magazine storefront on ONDC/DigiHaat to enable e-commerce sales; and the “Magazines on the Move” program with IRCTC, aimed at bringing magazines to premium train travellers.

“We have achieved significant milestones together — from strengthening subscription delivery and distribution networks, expanding digital storefronts, and building policy engagement with government ministries, to foregrounding magazines once again in the media and advertising conversation. AIM today stands on much firmer ground than it did five years ago, and the new leadership is well poised to build on this momentum,” Nath said.

In recent years, AIM has driven several initiatives to strengthen the magazine industry. These include enhancing distribution and subscriptions through Magazine Post with India Post; forging e-commerce and quick-commerce partnerships and collaborations with Indian Railways and IRCTC to expand retail distribution; launching the WAVES OTT magazine store in association with Prasar Bharati and developing a shared storefront on ONDC; deepening engagement with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Railways, and India Post; and convening the industry through the Indian Magazine Congress and Magzimise Awards.

The recently concluded 14th Indian Magazine Congress (IMC 2025) in New Delhi marked a high point in AIM’s calendar this year. Themed “The Deep Connect: Building Communities, Nurturing Trust, Re-imagining the Future,” the congress brought together top publishers, advertisers, media planners, policymakers, and global experts.

The Magzimise Awards 2025, held alongside IMC, celebrated excellence and innovation in magazine advertising, recognising the most creative and impactful campaigns across categories.

Looking ahead, the new leadership team will build on this momentum with renewed focus on expanding magazine distribution and subscription strategies, rolling out a national magazine advertising campaign, and foregrounding the relevance of magazines for advertisers. AIM also plans to intensify policy advocacy with government ministries and departments to secure budgetary allocations for magazines in public libraries and educational institutions, as well as urge DAVP to revise and rationalise advertising rates for magazines. This, AIM believes, will help increase the empanelment of magazine titles and ensure a fairer share of government advertising revenues to the sector.