Raghav Bahl, Managing Director, Network 18 Group

"Our editors run their businesses without any commercial considerations. Let me give you an example. It came to me as a compliment from somebody the other day. On CNN IBN, our film 'Welcome' (a film we've taken a large bet on) was reviewed by Rajiv Masand, on his very popular show. Rajiv said, "The film is so bad that anyone who goes and sees it and enjoys it, I will personally pay for his psychiatric treatment." This was his line, on our own channel, about our own film. There is no influence on our editorial."

Raghav Bahl, 45, is the Managing Director of the Network 18 Group. He began his working life as a management consultant with A.F. Ferguson & Co. His second corporate job was with American Express Bank, before he turned to his first love, media. Winner of the Sanskriti Award for Journalism in 1994, Raghav has over 23 years experience in television and journalism. He started his career in media in 1985 as a Correspondent and Anchorperson for Doordarshan. He was the Anchorperson and Production Consultant for India's first monthly video newsmagazine, Newstrack, produced by the India Today Group. From 1991 to 1993, he was Executive Director of Business India Television and produced the Business India Show and Business A.M. on Doordarshan. Raghav is a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He did his Graduation in Economics from St. Stephen's College, and then did his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Delhi. He attended a doctoral programme at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York.

Network18 is one of India's leading full play media conglomerates with interests in television, print, Internet, filmed entertainment, mobile content and allied businesses. Through its holding in Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV18), Network 18 operates business news television channels CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. It also runs one of India's largest Internet players - Web18, as well as one of India's leading real-time financial information and news terminals -- Newswire18.

TV18 has recently expanded into print with the acquisition of Infomedia, a player in the B2B publishing and printing operations space, and announced a collaboration with Forbes for the launch of a business magazine in India. It is also in the process of launching a Hindi business daily for the Indian market via a 50:50 JV with Jagran Prakashan. Through its holding in Global Broadcast News Ltd (GBN), Network 18 operates in the general news and entertainment space with leading general news channels CNN-IBN and IBN7, and will be launching a Marathi news channel in partnership with the Lokmat group.

GBN also operates a joint venture with Viacom, called Viacom18, which houses the MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon channels in India, as also Studio18, the group's filmed entertainment operation, and will be launching a Hindi general entertainment channel. Additionally, Network 18 holds the Group's online and on-air home shopping venture, Homeshop18 and its full spectrum events management venture, E18.

The group, according to Raghav, is set to achieve a top line of well over Rs1000 crore. And he believes that the growth will get easier with the group getting bigger. The disarmingly simple and straight-talking Raghav gets candid, in conversation with exchange4media Group's Editor-in-Chief Anurag Batra, Editorial Director Amit Agnihotri and impact's Gokul Krishnamurthy. Excerpts:

Q. Amit Agnihotri: Your whole growth strategy has been built on the basis of alliances and partnerships. It has been a very aggressive last couple of years. When you do those kinds of alliances and forge that many partnerships, aren’t you giving a lot away? Compare that to the case of a fully owned model, where one will build everything from scratch with full ownership...

Raghav Bahl: I think there is a misconception. In all our alliances, we haven’t given away anything. In fact, most media companies are selling parts of their companies. We’re the only one, which is buying assets. Viacom – we bought. CNN has no equity in this company. CNBC has no equity in this company. Just because we have the kind of brands with us, there is a sense that we have given away a lot. We have given away nothing. We are the only 100 per cent Indian-owned company – along with Zee who came before us. It’s just a popular misconception. We buy businesses. We have not sold a single part of any of our businesses. We’ve bought Infomedia; we’ve bought Viacom – we bought three channels from Viacom. We bought CNBC out of the JV. Each and every asset that you see around you, down to every camera and every anchor (who I define as an asset), they are owned by us and not by anybody else.

Q. Amit Agnihotri: In trying to understand your corporate strategy, we’re intrigued about how much of the way you have grown is strategy and how much of it has been about moving in on opportunities that came your way.

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Raghav Bahl: At the end of the day, we want to be a full-play media company. Now that is the overall strategy. You have to be opportunistic when an opportunity comes your way. Did we plan that we will buy Infomedia? No. We didn’t even know that Infomedia is going to be up for sale. But, did we know that we want to be a full-play media company, and therefore have a significant presence in print? Yes. So while it may look sporadic, the fact is that there is an overall strategy. We are very clear that we want to be a full-play media company. But, can we plan all acquisitions? That’s not possible.