Profile of Shobhana Bhartia, Vice Chairperson and Editorial Director HT Media

By Vipin Agnihotri

Vice-chairperson and editorial director of The Hindustan Times, Shobhana Bhartia is well known in the Indian media fraternity for transforming the formerly stodgy paper into a modern and dynamic business force. The daughter of K.K. Birla, the business magnate and Hindustan Times chairman, she took over the newspaper in the late 1990s.

In my opinion, for Shobhana Bhartia this year will go down as one where she not only proved her managerial skills but also set new targets for the future. If she manages to maintain the momentum, there is a good chance that she will set new benchmark in the horizon of Indian media.

It is worth mentioning in this regard that Mint, a business daily launched in February in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, is seen to be finishing in on the No. 2 spot in its segment with an estimated circulation of 80,000 copies. On the other hand, Fever 104 has also started making its presence felt in the Mumbai and Bangalore market.

Furthermore, Metro Now, a daily tabloid, which was launched in collaboration with the former competitor Bennett, Coleman & Company in February this year, has so far managed to rack up 1.10 lakh copies in daily sales. This is quite a feat especially in the initial year of the publication.

Taking all this into account, there is hardly a surprise that HTs first quarter numbers was pretty impressive. In terms of statistics, revenues were up 33 per cent at Rs 247.90 crore, while the bottom line jumped 212 per cent at Rs 30.6 crore. If experts are to be believed, the stock (HT Media listed in September 2005) has been on a roll since June last year, going from Rs 78 or so to Rs 218 on September 12.

The 50-year-old Shobhana Bhartia, who is married to Shyam Sundar Bhartia, Chairman & Managing Director, Jubilant Organosys, has her hands full otherwise. Point to be noted here is that the Padma Shri awardee is a Rajya Sabha member and an active industry figure, who not so long ago was the Chairperson of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. At this moment of time, Shobhana focus is on the Hindi daily, Hindustan, and HTs Internet initiatives.

There are some rumours in the Indian media that Shobhana either selling her majority stake or merging with another media heavyweight. The best part about Shobhana is that she never reacts to such rumours, and that only seems to add to her power halo.

Talking about achievements, in 2003, she was listed among the 50 most powerful people in Indian media. In addition, she was given the Outstanding Businesswoman Award from the Punjab, Haryana, Delhi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2001.

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