Rakesh Khar moves on from TV9

Senior journalist and media executive Rakesh Khar is moving on from TV9 after a stint of over five years, during which he held key editorial leadership roles across the network’s business, finance and English digital news operations.

Khar was most recently serving as Editor, English, TV9 and was leading News9 Media Verse (English), which is positioned as the network’s integrated English digital news offering. In that capacity, he was associated with the English cluster at TV9 Network and with the expansion of its English digital ecosystem spanning News9 Plus, News9 Live and News9Live.com. 

His latest role at TV9 began in July 2023, when he took over as Editor, News9 Media Verse (English). Prior to that, he served as Group Business & Economy Editor, TV9 Network from November 2021 to July 2023. He had joined the group in October 2020 as Editor & Business Head, Money9, the network’s personal finance platform, and remained in that role till November 2021. Taken together, his tenure at Associated Broadcasting Co. Pvt. Ltd. and its related TV9 platforms spanned four years and six months.

Over the course of his innings at TV9, Khar worked across three senior mandates, reflecting the network’s push across multilingual broadcast-linked digital platforms, business journalism and English news. His responsibilities cut across editorial leadership, content direction and platform-building in segments that were strategically important to the group’s evolving digital news play.

Khar is also the mentor at AIC IIT Delhi. He also served as an IIMC Executive Council Member from 2018 to 2024.

Before joining TV9, Khar spent more than six years at Network18 Media & Investments Ltd., where he served as Editor, Special Projects (IPs & Branded Content). During that stint, he was involved in the conceptualisation and development of editorial properties across the group’s television, digital and print platforms. He was also part of the editorial leadership team responsible for closer integration between the IBN, later News18, digital and television newsrooms. His profile notes that he co-authored the “Re-imagining CNN-IBN” thought process that led to the channel’s rebranding as CNN-News18 in April 2016. It also credits him with contributing to major editorial projects across politics, business, society, technology, fashion and the millennial segment, apart from helping conceptualise and execute the Global Natural Resources Conclave in April 2017.

Earlier, Khar was with Zee Media Corporation Ltd. as Group Consulting Editor and Founding Editor, Zee Research Group, described in his profile as India’s first multimedia data-led news and analysis service catering to Zee News channels, DNA India and the group’s online platforms. During that period, he also conceptualised and headed Bharat Bhagya Vidhata, a year-long multimedia election property launched on August 15, 2013, and was involved in newsroom management and broader editorial and business reviews within the news cluster.

His earlier assignments include serving as Senior Editor at Financial Chronicle, where he led business and economy coverage and worked on special editorial initiatives including budget editions and reform-focused supplements. Before that, he was Head, Strategic Planning and Network Business Editor at Sahara Samay Network, where he launched daily business bulletins on regional channels, worked on editorial conclaves, and represented the network at regulatory forums such as IBF, TRAI and NBSA.

Khar also held the position of Executive Editor at Zee News, where he was part of the core team behind what his profile describes as India’s first weekday business news bulletin on Zee TV in 1997. He later went on to be part of the team that launched the country’s first 24x7 Hindi news channel, first as Zee India in 1998 and later as Zee News in 1999. He also served as Brand Manager for the channel, helping build editorial and sales-marketing synergy.

Before that, he was with Television 18 as Assistant Editor, where he was a member of the core editorial team that set up Asia Business News (India), now known as CNBC-TV18. In print, he worked with The Economic Times as Special Correspondent/Deputy Corporate Editor, where he helped co-conceptualise the Companies, Finance & Marketing section and reported extensively on companies across sectors. His career began at The Kashmir Times, where he worked as Staff Correspondent and reported from Jammu & Kashmir on politics, youth, education, civic issues and culture.