BBC India Restructures Business After Centre Tweaks FDI Rules

The BBC has handed over its newsroom publishing licence in India to a private limited company, Collective Newsroom - a first for the public service broadcaster's global operations anywhere in the world. The move comes a year after searches at its offices by the Income Tax department.

Collective Newsroom, founded by four former BBC employees, will begin its operations from April 10. A wholly India-based company, it will produce content for the BBC's digital services in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu.

"We have a production agreement with the BBC, and we will be producing content for the BBC across its six different language services and India's English YouTube channel," the company's CEO Rupa Jha told NDTV.

"We will keep the BBC Editorial Guidelines in mind when producing content for them, such as the kind of journalism the BBC practices. Upholding the trust in the BBC brand is our responsibility to carry forward," she added.

As per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Collective Newsroom Private Limited was incorporated on October 27 last year.

The restructuring was prompted by the new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules, which were introduced in 2020, that imposed a 26% FDI limit in India's digital media sector.

Companies exceeding the 26% FDI limit were required to reduce their foreign investment to comply with this regulation by October 2021.

99.99% of BBC World Service India's shares are owned by its UK-based public broadcaster.