Harshad Jain to take over from S Keerthivasan as Head of Radio Business at HT Media

S. Keerthivasan has been a key part of the Leadership team at HT Media. He joined HTML in 2004 as the head of Business Excellence and soon took over the responsibility of leading its new venture into the FM Radio space - Fever 104 FM. Under his leadership and sharp focus, Radio has thrived. In five short years Radio has become one of HT Media's most successful businesses with annual revenues poised to cross the Rs 100 Cr mark, exiting on a growth of almost 70% last year. From its modest beginnings in Delhi, Fever 104 has fast, and successfully, expanded its reach to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

Today it has become a brand to be reckoned with in the radio space. It is consistently the most popular radio station in Delhi and is swiftly moving to that spot in its other markets as well. The success story of Fever 104 FM has been scripted, in large part, by Keerthi through his vision and leadership from the front. Keerthi's enthusiasm for the business is contagious; he has brought together a highly motivated team at Fever 104 FM and has created a culture of innovation and thought-leadership in the business, which also has played a major role in its success.

Taking over from Keerthi as Head of Radio Business, will be Harshad Jain who will join HTML shortly. Harshad, comes with 20 years of rich experience post his business studies in Sales & Marketing. He had a long stint at PespsiCo, performing various Regional and Corporate roles in Marketing, Sales and Business. Amongst these was his tenure as Business head for a 50:50 strategic alliance between Pepsi and Unilever for launching and managing the Lipton Ice Tea Business across South Asia. Post his innings with Pepsico, Harshad moved over to World Space India in the capacity of Chief Marketing Officer. During his time World Space saw some of its greatest expansion. He was instrumental in taking the number of subscriber from a paltry 42,000 to 2 lac. He drove the launch of 9 new channels in the space of three years and saw renewal rates go up to 84%. In his recent role as Senior Vice President & Head - Sales & Marketing for Airtel DTH at Bharti Airtel Ltd, from where he joins HTML, Harshad took the sales revenues from Rs 300 Cr to Rs 1600 Cr in 2 years. While the numbers certainly speak for themselves, it must be added that Harshad is a highly passionate and motivated team player. We are sure he will be an excellent addition to HT Media leadership and we look forward to welcoming him into the fold.

Keerthi is currently pursuing higher professional education from Kelloggs Business School. He has shown keenness that upon completion of his studies he would like to move to the next phase of his career - exploring new challenges and options outside of HT Media. While he will certainly be missed, we're sure he will be very successful and be a great value to any team he joins. We wish him the best of luck in all of his future endeavors.