Raghav Bahl

Founder & Former MD,
Network 18 Founder & Chairman – Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd Entrepreneur,
Business Leader Author & Editor on Economic Policy & Global Affairs Media Industry Expert

Raghav Bahl is a journalist, entrepreneur, media baron and one of the most respected business leaders of India. He built a highly diversified media company, Network 18, which has news operations at its core, and layered with a rich assortment of entertainment and film properties. Raghav recently exited from the company and plans to focus on his dream of digital content creation and distribution. He began his media journey while still in college. As a student at St. Stephens College, his passion for news compelled him to create TV programmes and moderate debates for the state-owned network. Not seeing much opportunity for journalists in India then, he decided to pursue an MBA from the University of Delhi and work as a management consultant for AF Ferguson and American Express Bank.

In an atypical move for an Indian business owner, Raghav recently sold his interests in Network 18 in an American style ‘founder’s exit’. He has now founded Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd. The company’s first offering is The Quint – a mobile first digital news Platform - www.thequint.com. He also intends to spend more time in the public sphere—advocating right-of-center public policies, and writing books and op-eds.

Raghav has been felicitated at various national and international forums. In 1994, the World Economic Forum called him a Global Leader of Tomorrow and he won India’s Sanskriti Award for Journalism. Ernst & Young named Raghav the Entrepreneur of the Year for Business Transformation in 2007. And in 2011, he won the All India Management Association’s Media Person of the Year award, as well as the Bombay Management Association’s prize for Entrepreneur of the Year. He was also bestowed an honorary degree from Amity University in Uttar Pradesh.