Bloomberg UTV to 'pitch' for big ideas with Rs 5 cr prize

The one-hour show, 'The Pitch', will be aired in the first week of October by the channel, a joint venture between diversified Indian entertainment Group UTV Software Communications and newswire Bloomberg of the US.

The programme is an initiative to locate and identify people with strong entrepreneurial skills and provide them a platform to present their ideas and help them execute them, UTV Group Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Screwvala told reporters here.

The winner of the show will bag a prize money of Rs 5 crore, the highest amount on any Indian television programme, so far, he said. "Its our bid to encourage entrepreneurship in the country that has thousands of people with brightest ideas but don't get a proper channel or scope to execute them. We aim to provide a platform for such budding entrepreneurs," Bloomberg UTV Business Head Deepak Lamba said.

To start with, three successful entrepreneurs --Vishal Gondal of Indiagames, Alok Kejriwal of Games2win and Satya Narayanan of Career Launcher, will shortlist 30 business plans from the entries received all across the country.