NDTV History Timeline: From 1988 Television Pioneer to Adani-Owned News Network
NDTV history, 1988-2026: from Doordarshan shows and Star News to NDTV 24x7, the 2009 VCPL loan, the 2022 Adani takeover, regional channels and 2026 losses.
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NDTV did not start as a news channel. In 1988 it was a small company making programmes for Doordarshan. By 1995 it was producing a daily private news bulletin, by 1998 it was the newsroom behind Star News, and in 2003 it launched its own 24-hour channels. In 2022, through a loan signed 13 years earlier, control passed to the Adani Group. This is the NDTV history in order: the shows, the channels, the money, the ownership fight and what the network looks like in 2026.
💡 Short Answer
NDTV was founded by Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy in 1988 as a producer of news programmes for Doordarshan, starting with The World This Week and, from 1995, the daily News Tonight. It ran Star News’s 24-hour newsroom from 1998 and launched its own channels, NDTV 24×7 and NDTV India, in April 2003. The Adani Group took control in 2022, first by exercising warrants from a 2009 loan on 23 August and then by buying 27.26% from the Roys on 30 December, reaching 64.71% (69.02% by October 2025). Rahul Kanwal has been CEO and Editor-in-Chief since May 2025.
NDTV History: Key Questions
NDTV in Ten Points
- 1988: a production company, making The World This Week for Doordarshan.
- 1995: The News Tonight, a daily private news bulletin on DD Metro.
- 1998-2003: the newsroom behind Star News, India’s first 24-hour news channel.
- 1999: ndtv.com, with live webcasts.
- April 2003: its own channels, NDTV 24×7 and NDTV India.
- 2005, not 2006: NDTV Profit. Entertainment (Imagine, 2008) was sold within two years.
- 2009-10: a Rs 403.85 crore loan from VCPL, with Reliance-linked money and warrants over the founders’ company.
- 2022: Adani buys VCPL, exercises the warrants, makes an open offer and buys 27.26% from the Roys: 64.71%.
- 2023-24: regional channels and NDTV World (2024, not 2023).
- 2026: an AI-led plan, and a Rs 320.70 crore annual loss.
The NDTV Timeline, 1988–2026
Newest first. Tags mark expansion, ownership changes and turning points. Company figures are labelled, and where sources conflict we say so.
Jul 2026
Bigger, and still losing money Turning point
NDTV’s 2025-26 accounts showed both sides of the Adani-era expansion. Revenue rose 13.6% to Rs 528.29 crore, but the consolidated net loss was Rs 320.70 crore. At the annual general meeting on 26 June 2026, Rahul Kanwal set out a plan to make NDTV an ‘AI-led’ media organisation, using AI in research, newsroom workflows, translation, audience analytics and the archive, with editorial judgment kept under human supervision. The company cited 45 million lifetime YouTube subscribers and 102 million social followers. Results for April-June 2026, released on 21 July, showed revenue up 8.9% to Rs 117.23 crore and a wider loss of Rs 81.88 crore. The plan is ambitious; the profit has not yet followed.
Adani puts in more money Ownership
NDTV raised Rs 396.49 crore through a rights issue that closed in October 2025, subscribed 1.11 times, to fund expansion, brand building and debt repayment. The Adani promoter entities took up more than their share, lifting the promoter group’s holding from 64.71% to 69.02%. Three years after the takeover, the new owner was still funding the network’s growth.
Rahul Kanwal takes charge Turning point
Rahul Kanwal, who had been news director at the India Today Group’s TV Today Network, became NDTV’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief, combining the business and editorial top jobs in one person. The board approved the appointment on 25 April 2025 and he took charge on 26 May. It was the clearest sign yet that the post-2022 NDTV would be run as a growth business, with a television anchor at the helm.
Marathi, and NDTV World Expansion
NDTV Marathi launched on 1 May 2024, Maharashtra Day. On 21 October 2024, at the first NDTV World Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the logo of NDTV World, an English international channel with the line ‘Seeing the World from Where India Stands’, launched in the US, Canada, the UK and the UAE as well as India. The company also widened distribution on connected TV, OTT and IPTV platforms. (The brief this page started from puts NDTV World in 2023; it launched in 2024.)
Sep 2023
NDTV goes regional Expansion
For 35 years NDTV had meant English and Hindi national news. Under Adani it went regional: NDTV Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh launched on 21 August 2023 and NDTV Rajasthan on 5 September 2023, both Hindi channels built around local politics and ground reports, months before three of those states voted. By its own account the company also relaunched NDTV Profit that year as a full business news brand. Regional channels widened the network’s reach; they also added cost, as the loss figures since show.
2022
The founders sell Ownership
On 23 December 2022 Prannoy and Radhika Roy announced they would sell 27.26% of their remaining 32.26% to the Adani Group, and the deal completed on 30 December at Rs 342.65 a share, about Rs 602 crore. That took the Adani Group to 64.71%. In their note to staff the Roys said NDTV had fulfilled many of their hopes and that they trusted the new leadership to keep its values. NDTV became a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks. Thirty-four years of founder control had ended.
Dec 2022
Open offer, and the exits begin Ownership
Under takeover rules, the Adani Group made an open offer to NDTV’s public shareholders, which ran from 22 November to 5 December 2022 and added about 8%, taking it past 37%. On 29 November the Roys resigned as directors of RRPR Holding. The next day Ravish Kumar, NDTV India’s best-known anchor, resigned. Over the following months other senior journalists and executives left, including Sreenivasan Jain and group president Suparna Singh, in early 2023.
2022
The warrants are exercised Turning point
AMG Media Networks, part of Adani Enterprises, bought VCPL from Nextwave Televentures and Eminent Networks for about Rs 113.75 crore. VCPL then used the 2009 warrants to take 99.9% of RRPR Holding, the Roys’ company that owned 29.18% of NDTV. NDTV said the move came without discussion, consent or notice to its founders, and argued that a SEBI order barring the Roys from trading in securities meant the transfer needed regulatory approval. VCPL said no approval was needed. The question was no longer who owned NDTV, but who controlled it.
The tribunal’s ruling Ownership
The Securities Appellate Tribunal overturned SEBI’s finding that VCPL had indirectly acquired control of NDTV through the 2009 loan and call options. ‘The combined reading of the agreement, call option agreements, warrant conversion option and the purchase option does not in any way lead to a conclusion of VCPL acquiring indirect control,’ SAT said. It still found that the loan agreements should have been disclosed, and cut the penalty on the Roys and RRPR from Rs 25 crore to Rs 5 crore. SEBI appealed. Five weeks later, the warrants were exercised anyway.
2019
Years of investigations Ownership
The loan structure and the founders’ finances became the subject of a string of investigations. The Enforcement Directorate served NDTV a notice alleging foreign-exchange violations in 2015. On 5 June 2017 the CBI raided the Roys’ home and NDTV’s offices over a 2008 ICICI Bank loan; NDTV called it a ‘witch-hunt’. The same month, under financial pressure, NDTV Profit was turned into the infotainment channel NDTV Prime. In June 2019 SEBI barred the Roys from the securities market for two years over the loan disclosures; SAT stayed the order. The network’s critics and supporters read the same years very differently: as accountability, or as pressure on an independent newsroom.
2010
The loan that mattered later Ownership
To repay an earlier loan from ICICI Bank, the Roys’ holding company RRPR Holding took an interest-free loan of about Rs 403.85 crore from Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd (VCPL). The money was routed through companies linked to Reliance Industries, not Adani. In return VCPL got warrants convertible into 99.9% of RRPR, which held 29.18% of NDTV. For 13 years the warrants sat unexercised. They became the key to the 2022 takeover.
2009
A media network, and a retreat Expansion
NDTV tried to become much more than a news company. It launched the lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times on 7 September 2007, and in January 2008 the Hindi entertainment channel NDTV Imagine, with NBC Universal as a partner in its entertainment arm. Entertainment proved expensive. In December 2009 Turner, part of Time Warner, bought 92% of NDTV Imagine Ltd for about $124.5 million; the channel later closed. NDTV went back to doing what it did best.
2006
Public company, business channel Expansion
NDTV became a listed company in 2004; by December that year it was worth about Rs 1,433 crore, the highest of any Indian media company, according to Wikipedia. The Roys stayed in control as promoters. In 2005 it launched NDTV Profit, a business news channel for a fast-growing market of investors (some timelines, including the brief this page started from, say 2006). In 2006 it set up NDTV Convergence to run its websites and mobile services.
NDTV’s own channels Turning point
The Star contract ended on 31 March 2003, and NDTV launched two channels of its own at once: NDTV 24×7 in English and NDTV India in Hindi. For the first time it controlled the whole chain, from reporting to broadcasting to selling advertising. NDTV India positioned itself as a non-tabloid Hindi channel in a market that was becoming loud; that choice won it respect and, often, smaller ratings than its rivals.
ndtv.com Turning point
Years before smartphones, NDTV put its programmes online. ndtv.com launched in 1999 with live webcasts and, by the company’s count, drew about 55,000 views a day within a month. It became one of India’s biggest news sites: during the 2019 Lok Sabha results the company says it logged 16 billion views in 24 hours, its own figure.
Star News goes 24 hours Turning point
NDTV became the newsroom behind Star News, which went 24 hours in February 1998, the first round-the-clock news channel aimed at India. Star owned the channel and the satellite distribution; NDTV made the news. The brief this page started from dates an NDTV-Star agreement to 1997, and NDTV’s own timeline mentions Star bulletins on Star Plus and Star World in 1998. The five years trained a generation of NDTV reporters and anchors, and showed that Indian viewers would watch news all day.
The News Tonight Turning point
NDTV began producing The News Tonight, a daily half-hour bulletin for Doordarshan’s DD Metro. Wikipedia describes it as India’s first daily domestic news broadcast by a private producer. Prannoy Roy later recalled that opening with ‘coming to you live’ worried officials, and that the newsroom kept its own clock, running a few minutes ahead and transmitting with a short delay. NDTV’s annual reports also mention a 1993 bulletin co-produced with CNN, so ‘first’ depends on the definition.
1989
The World This Week Turning point
Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy started NDTV as an independent producer selling programmes to Doordarshan, then India’s only television network. Its first hit was The World This Week, an international affairs programme on Friday nights that made foreign news watchable for Indian audiences. In 1989 NDTV produced what Wikipedia calls India’s first televised live coverage of election results, with Prannoy Roy’s psephology at the centre. Some histories date the Roys’ production venture to 1984; NDTV dates itself to 1988.
Four Months, Three Steps: How Control Changed
The Adani Group’s stake in NDTV, from the first move to the rights issue.
Pick a year and see who was in charge, and what NDTV was running
Drag the year from 1988 to 2026. Blue chips are NDTV’s own channels; amber chips are shows, platforms and businesses. Closed or sold ventures drop off when they ended.
Who Controlled NDTV, Period by Period
Listing in 2004 did not change control. The 2009 loan did not either, according to the tribunal. The warrants did, in 2022.
| Period | Who controlled NDTV | How it worked |
|---|---|---|
| 1988-2004 | Radhika and Prannoy Roy | Private production company, then broadcaster |
| 2004-2009 | The Roys, as promoters | Listed in 2004; founders kept control through their own and RRPR’s holdings |
| 2009-Aug 2022 | The Roys, with VCPL warrants hanging over RRPR | Rs 403.85 cr loan, Reliance-linked money; warrants for 99.9% of RRPR never exercised |
| 23 Aug 2022 | Contested | Adani’s AMG Media buys VCPL and converts warrants: 29.18% via RRPR; NDTV says no consent |
| Nov-Dec 2022 | Adani Group, about 37% | Open offer adds about 8%; Roys leave RRPR board |
| 30 Dec 2022- | Adani Group, 64.71% | Roys sell 27.26% at Rs 342.65; NDTV a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks |
| Oct 2025- | Adani Group, 69.02% | Rights issue raises promoter holding |
The NDTV Playbook
Four ideas the network returned to again and again.
Learn the newsroom first
Fifteen years making programmes for Doordarshan and Star before owning a channel. When NDTV 24×7 and NDTV India launched, the team, the anchors and the production style already existed.
Make elections the product
Prannoy Roy’s psephology turned results night into television, and later into maps, data and live web dashboards. It is still NDTV’s most recognisable format.
Be online early
ndtv.com in 1999, NDTV Convergence in 2006, and a large YouTube and social audience today. The website outlived several of the channels.
Go wide: regional and global
The Adani-era strategy: Hindi regional channels, Marathi, NDTV World, events and connected TV. Reach has grown faster than revenue.
Credibility, Pressure and Criticism
For most of its history NDTV sold itself on seriousness. Its founders criticised the race for ratings that pushed Indian TV news towards shouting matches and crime and celebrity stories, and NDTV India described itself as a non-tabloid Hindi channel. That reputation won awards and a loyal audience, and often smaller ratings than louder rivals. Critics on the right accused the channel of bias against the BJP; critics on the left later accused its founders of mismanaging the company’s finances.
The years from 2015 to 2022 brought an ED notice, CBI raids, tax cases and SEBI orders against the founders, which NDTV called a campaign against an independent newsroom and which the agencies said were routine enforcement. The tribunal’s July 2022 ruling went largely the founders’ way; the August 2022 warrant conversion went the other way. Since the takeover, departing journalists and press-freedom groups have questioned NDTV’s editorial independence under one of India’s largest conglomerates, while the new management says it has invested in journalism and expanded the network. Readers can judge the coverage for themselves; the ownership facts are not in dispute.
NDTV in Numbers
Audited, filed and company-reported figures, kept apart and dated.
| Figure | What it measures | Source and date | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55,000 a day | ndtv.com views, first month, 1999 | NDTV corporate history | Company figure |
| Rs 1,433 cr | Market value, Dec 2004 | Wikipedia | Highest of any Indian media company then |
| Rs 403.85 cr | VCPL loan to RRPR, 2009-10 | Company disclosures, via Business Standard | Interest-free, with warrants |
| 29.18% / 64.71% | RRPR’s NDTV stake / Adani after 30 Dec 2022 | Exchange filings | Control steps |
| Rs 342.65 | Price per share paid to the Roys | Business Today, 30 Dec 2022 | About Rs 602 cr for 27.26% |
| 69.02% | Promoter group after rights issue | Exchange filings, Oct 2025 | Up from 64.71% |
| Rs 528.29 cr / -Rs 320.70 cr | Revenue / net loss, FY26 | NDTV results | Consolidated |
| 45m / 102m | YouTube subscribers / social followers | NDTV AGM, Jun 2026 | Company figures, lifetime |
1988 vs 2026: What Actually Changed
| Dimension | 1988 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| What NDTV was | A production company | A listed network of national, regional and international channels |
| Distribution | Doordarshan, once a week | TV, web, apps, YouTube, social, connected TV |
| Languages | English | English, Hindi, Marathi and Hindi regional channels |
| Owner | Radhika and Prannoy Roy | Adani Group via AMG Media Networks (69.02% promoter group) |
| Money | Fees from Doordarshan | Advertising, distribution, events; loss-making in FY26 |
| Biggest challenge | Getting on air at all | Attention, trust and AI summaries of its own reporting |
Corrections and Clarifications
Claims in the earlier draft of this page and in the brief it was built from, checked against Wikipedia, NDTV’s annual reports and exchange filings, afaqs, exchange4media, Business Today and the SAT ruling as reported.
“VCPL was ultimately linked to the Adani Group”
Not in 2009. The VCPL loan money came through entities linked to Reliance Industries. Adani’s AMG Media Networks bought VCPL only on 23 August 2022, for about Rs 113.75 crore.
“2006: NDTV Profit”
NDTV Profit launched in 2005. The 2006 milestone was NDTV Convergence, the digital arm.
“2023: NDTV World”
NDTV World launched on 21 October 2024, at the NDTV World Summit. The 2023 launches were NDTV MP-Chhattisgarh and NDTV Rajasthan.
“64.71% promoter holding”
That was the figure at 31 March 2025. After the October 2025 rights issue the promoter group held 69.02%.
“1997: Star agreement”
We could not confirm a 1997 signing date. What is documented is that Star News went 24 hours, with NDTV producing it, in February 1998, and that the contract ended on 31 March 2003.
“Founded in 1988” and “first private news”
NDTV says 1988; Wikipedia dates the Roys’ production venture to 1984. NDTV’s own reports also mention a 1993 CNN co-produced bulletin before The News Tonight. We give both.
“2004: public company” as a change of control
Listing did not change who controlled NDTV. The Roys remained the controlling promoters until 2022.
What the brief left out
The Imagine sale to Turner (2009), the CBI raids and NDTV Prime (2017), the SEBI ban (2019), the open offer, Ravish Kumar’s exit, the rights issue and NDTV’s losses: Rs 320.70 crore in FY26.
What Comes Next
NDTV’s history is a sequence of bets on where the audience would be next: Doordarshan, then satellite, then its own channels, the web, mobile, regional languages and international viewers. Under the founders the constraint was money; under the Adani Group the constraint is turning a much bigger network into a profitable one, and keeping the credibility that made the brand worth buying.
The company’s stated answer for 2026 is AI: faster translation into more languages, clips, archives and personalised feeds. The harder question is the one every news brand now faces. If an AI system can summarise NDTV’s reporting in seconds, the value lies in the reporting itself, and in whether audiences trust who is doing it.
Explore More Timelines
People Also Ask
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line
NDTV began in 1988 as Radhika and Prannoy Roy’s production company, made private news for Doordarshan from 1995, ran Star News’s 24-hour newsroom from 1998 and launched NDTV 24×7 and NDTV India in April 2003. A Rs 403.85 crore loan taken in 2009-10 handed the Adani Group its opening in August 2022, and the Roys sold most of their shares on 30 December 2022. Under Rahul Kanwal it now runs national, regional and international channels and a large digital operation, and in 2026 its challenge is profit and trust rather than reach.
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⚠️ Editorial Note
Last updated 8 October 2026. Early history is from Wikipedia’s NDTV entry and NDTV’s own corporate timeline in its annual reports; the VCPL loan and 2022 takeover from afaqs, Business Standard, Business Today and exchange filings; the SAT ruling as reported by Moneylife and Business Today; regional and NDTV World launches from afaqs and exchange4media; Rahul Kanwal’s appointment from exchange4media; FY26, Q1 FY27 and AGM figures from NDTV results as reported by Indian Broadcasting World and others. Audience and strategy figures are NDTV’s own. AiTimeline has no commercial relationship with NDTV or the Adani Group.
Sources & further reading
Every dated entry above was checked against these references. Last reviewed 8 October 2026.
- Wikipedia: NDTV (history, Star News, channels, Adani acquisition)
- NDTV Integrated Annual Report 2024-25: The Journey (company timeline)
- afaqs: What went down between Adani and NDTV? (VCPL, RRPR, warrants)
- Business Standard: How an unpaid loan aided Adani firms to make hostile takeover bid for NDTV
- Moneylife: SAT reduces penalty on Prannoy, Radhika Roy and RRPR in VCPL loan deal
- Business Today: Adani Group acquires NDTV founders' 27.26% stake (30 Dec 2022)
- afaqs: NDTV launches regional channels for MP, Chhattisgarh
- afaqs: NDTV Rajasthan launches on September 5, 2023
- Newslaundry: NDTV launches Marathi channel (1 May 2024)
- exchange4media: Rahul Kanwal takes charge as NDTV's Editor-in-Chief and CEO
- The Week (PTI): NDTV rights issue oversubscribed 1.11 times, raises Rs 396.49 cr
- Indian Broadcasting World: NDTV charts AI-driven growth push (AGM, FY26)
- Equitybulls: NDTV Q1 FY27 consolidated revenue Rs 117.23 crore, net loss Rs 81.88 crore