Viacom18's Colors TV channel follows Adani, pulls out of Wharton event

WASHINGTON: Another key sponsor of the Wharton Indian Economic Forum (WIEF) has pulled out of the prestigious annual meet in the wake of the organiser's decision to cancel a key-note address by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Viacom18's Colors TV channel was removed from the list of silver sponsors to the annual event in the WIEF website on Thursday. There has not been any official word from either the Wharton School or the organisers of the WIEF on withdrawal of sponsors and speakers and its impact on the conference.

Into its 17th edition, the annual event of the prestigious Wharton business school has been pushed into controversy due its decision to first invite Modi and then to cancel the invitation following protests from a section of the University of Pennsylvania.

Before Colors, Gujarat-based Adani Group, who was the top Platinum sponsor of the event, and Hexaware Technologies (a silver sponsor) have withdrawn from the event.

This has left Deutsche Bank as the top sponsor (silver sponsor - the second highest category of sponsors).

Meanwhile, Wikipedia has removed the content from its WIEF page that was highly critical of the event because of its decision to cancel invitation to Modi.