Essar signs on Shivnath Thukral

Shivnath Thukral, business editor and advisor, strategy, NDTV Group is moving on. Thukral who has spent 14 years with the company, is moving out of the media industry to take up his new role as group president, branding and strategic initiatives with the Essar group.

Confirming the move to Campaign India, Thukral said, "Yes, I am moving on. I have been with the group for 14 years and I have throughly enjoyed my stint. But after 14 years, I realised that I would like to do something different. The industry is changing very rapidly, and I wanted to look at what was happening outside of the media landscape. I wanted to take a break and move away from active media. I am taking on a new role as group president, corporate branding and strategic initiatives with the Essar group."

He further added, "I started off as a reporter in 1995 at NDTV, worked on the desk, did reporting, launched a channel years later. The fact that I felt the need to move out of media was probably largely because I have been doing this for 14 years. I start off next week."

Thukral joined NDTV after passing out of Delhi School of Economics.

He was selected during DSE’s campus placement and had been with the company ever since. Starting off as a reporter, Thukral rose through the ranks to eventually take on the role of managing editor for NDTV Profit in 2007.

Thukral was recently named business editor and advisor, strategy for the NDTV Group.

He began his career at NDTV starting off with general news reporting, across diverse beats like sports and crime. He was later associated with the channel’s business show on television called Index. He took a break for a year and a half after that to finish his masters in communication from USA. On his return, Thukral helped set up the business desk, where he became involved with business programming on weekends.

Thukral became the face of NDTV’s business channel, NDTV Profit when the channel was launched.