BBC India staffers to form new company for Indian language services; to comply with media ownership rules

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) disclosed that over 200 of its personnel will exit to form a new media entity in India. This move comes in response to recently introduced regulations in India limiting foreign ownership in media and aiming to enhance news organizations' accountability. Rules, which Indian authorities allege that BBC violated.

BBC is under scrutiny for alleged foreign exchange violations in India. Tax authorities searched BBC offices in Mumbai and Delhi in February following which an investigation was launched.

Four top executives from the BBC will lead the establishment of Collective Newsroom, an Indian firm fully owned by local citizens. This entity will generate content commissioned by the BBC, aligning with India’s Foreign Direct Investment law, as stated by the BBC in a released statement on Tuesday.

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As per a report by Reuters, "The regulations that govern publishing the news in India have changed," BBC's deputy CEO Jonathan Munro told staff in an email. "The changes mean that any company publishing digital news content in India, must be majority-owned by Indian nationals," he added.

The move will see the departure of approximately 250 staff members, aligning with the Foreign Direct Investment law in India. The Collective Newsroom will focus on delivering a wide range of services commissioned by the BBC across India.

BBC's commissioning of Collective Newsroom involves the production of six Indian language services (Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi), Indian digital content, and an English-language YouTube channel targeted at global audiences.

BBC Monitoring and the BBC’s English language newsgathering operation for global output will continue within the BBC, while the departing staff for Collective Newsroom includes Rupa Jha, Mukesh Sharma, Sanjoy Majumder, and Sara Hassan.