BBC staff to start new company to provide Indian language services

The broadcasting company is under the scanner for allegedly violating the norms and a probe was launched soon after tax officials conducted searches at the BBC’s offices in major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai earlier in 2023.

• Shubham
• 13 December, 2023

Follow Us

By: Shubham Ghosh

THE BBC on Tuesday (12) announced its personnel will start a new company dedicated to Indian language services and adhering to foreign investment norms that authorities in the South Asian nation alleged that the broadcaster had breached.

The broadcasting company is under the scanner for allegedly violating the norms and an investigation was launched soon after tax officials conducted searches at the BBC’s offices in major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai earlier this year.

The Indian authorities’ move came after the BBC broadcast a critical documentary on prime minister Narendra Modi in January. The documentary assessed his leadership as the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat in 2002 when deadly communal riots started. It led to an angry reaction from the government.

On Tuesday, the BBC said that four employees, including Rupa Jha, the current India head, would leave the company to set up a new enterprise called “Collective Newsroom”, Reuters reported. The new entity will provide services commissioned by the British broadcaster.

“The regulations that govern publishing the news in India have changed,” BBC’s deputy CEO Jonathan Munro told staff in an email, accessed by Reuters.

“The changes mean that any company publishing digital news content in India, must be majority-owned by Indian nationals,” he said.

Nearly 250 BBC staff will be asked to shift to the new company, which will be totally funded by its nine Indian shareholders, Munro and Jha informed the staff in a separate email, the report added.

An adviser of the Indian government said in February that tax officials at the BBC’s offices in the two Indian cities were not vindictive. The broadcaster said it was fully cooperating with the tax authorities and hoped that the matter would be resolved fast.