Rapid growth leaves Indian media grappling for CEOs

NEW DELHI: The boom in Indian media appears to have outpaced the talent supply with over half a dozen ventures - including those from global giants like News Corp and Walt Disney - scouting aggressively for a business head.

Headhunters have been busy for months searching for CEOs to lead TV and radio ventures of at least eight big names, which are either already up and running or are slated to become operational very soon. The search is also on for chiefs to head various media ventures that are on the planning stage.

Walt Disney India is looking for a new chief ever since its Managing Director Rajat Jain resigned in March this year. Jain joined a value-added cellular service firm Mobile2Win as its CEO and managing director late last month.

Star News, a joint venture between Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Ananda Bazar Patrika, is also without a head for more than three months after its CEO Uday Shankar was appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Star India.

Even Star India does not have a full time chief and Star Group CEO Paul Aiello has been officiating as an acting CEO for about seven months. While Shankar was named to the top at Star News after a high-profile exit of its then business head Ravina Raj Kohli in 2004, the additional charge of Star India was given to Aiello after resignations of Peter Mukerjea and Sameer Nair early this year. Mukerjea left as Star Group India CEO and Nair as Star Entertainment India CEO in January 2007.

Executive search firms and HR managers feel the high attrition rate at the top level was due to the rapid boom in the media sector as well as growing expectations of industry veterans who are moving to places with greater authority to operate.