ComVentures buys 19.17% stake in India TV

Earlier, ComVentures invested $20 million in an Indian TV - NDTV which I think is about 25% stake. Comventures, in its continuing spree of heavy investment in India have continued to buy another major stake option in India TV, a 24x7 Hindi news channel of Independent News Services Pvt. Ltd. The investment of over Rs. 50.96 crore (about $11.5 million) amounting to 19.17% stake in Independent News Services Pvt. Ltd. puts India TV worth to the tune of Rs. 250 crore.

India TV Chairman Rajat Sharma and managing Director Ritu Dhawan, who co-founded the company around three years ago, will sell a portion of their stake to Comventures. They have sought regulatory permission to appoint the chief executive officer of FUSE+Media (an affiliate of Comventures), Keyur Patel, to the company’s board.

Independent News intends to launch channels for the International market soon and the investment raised will be used to fund that expansion. The company plans to launch two new regional channels - Punjabi and Gujarati, in the US and UK this year. It also intends to turn its Indian News channel completely interactive.

Keyur Patel, who have a smart visionary insights have been highlighting the up-shooting Indian Media Industry and says that India have the huge potential to take it to the whole world and not just be India centric. People outside who have invested in India, who want to invest in India love to know more about the intricacies involved with India. I am sure with this business move, it will help propel India TV into the global orbit.

If not for the Government’s regulatory on the cap of investment from International bodies, I’m pretty sure Keyur Patel would have invested more in the Media Industry. Keyur Patel is an NRI and ComVentures is based off California, US.