V K Chopra named PTI chairman

Chopra succeeded eminent physicist Prof E V Chitnis following the 61st annual general meeting of PTI’s shareholders.

77-year-old Chopra has headed one of the largest groups of newspapers in the country since 1984. A Padma Shri awardee, Chopra is one of the leading figures of media industry having been President of Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and is closely associated with humanitarian causes.

Jain is the managing director of the country’s largest media group Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd, publishers of the Times of India and is largely responsible for the group’s foray into new media—internet, radio and TV. Besides Chopra and Jain, other members of the PTI Board are N Ravi (The Hindu), Dr R Lakshmipathy (Dinamalar), M P Veerendrakumar (Mathrubhumi), Aveek Kumar Sarkar (Anand Bazar Patrika), Shekhar Gupta (Indian Express), K N Shanth Kumar (Deccan Herald), M M Gupta (Jagran Prakashan), H N Cama (Bombay Samachar), Mrinal Pande (The Hindustan Times), Riyad Mathew (Malayala Manorama) and three non-newspaper Directors are Prof Chitnis, Justice S P Bharucha and Fali S Nariman.

Outgoing Chairman Chitnis said that PTI has earned highest ever revenue and profit during the year 2008-09.Commending the performance of the agency’s news service, Chitnis told the shareholders that PTI remained a dominant provider of news and photos to the Indian media.