Viveck Goenka of the Express Group (left) and N Ravi of the Hindu.
Viveck Goenka, chairman and managing director of the Express Group, and N Ravi, former editor-in-chief of The Hindu, were on Thursday unanimously elected chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of Press Trust of India (PTI). The election took place at a meeting of the board of directors following the company’s 69th annual general meeting. Goenka, who was earlier the vice-chairman, will succeed Riyad Mathew of the Malayala Manorama group.
Goenka, an engineer by qualification, has been heading the Express Group since the mid-1990s. The group runs English newspapers The Indian Express and The Financial Express, Marathi newspaper Loksatta, Hindi newspaper Jansatta and a host of news websites. He is also a director of Indian Newspaper Society and a member of Advertising Association’s India chapter. In the past, he has been chairman of the United News of India news agency and a council member of Audit Bureau of Circulation. As head of the non-profit Ramnath Goenka Foundation, Goenka launched the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards which are now in their 12th year.
Ravi, an award-winning journalist, is a director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd, which owns The Hindu and The Hindu Businessline newspapers and Frontline magazine, among others. Ravi joined The Hindu in 1972 and worked at the newspaper in various capacities, including reporter, Washington correspondent, deputy editor, editor and editor-in-chief. His writings and interests include India-US relations, constitutional and political issues, economy, free speech and human rights. He has a Master’s degree in economics and a Bachelor’s degree in law. He has previously been chairman of the PTI, and President of the Editors’ Guild of India.
Besides Goenka, Ravi and Mathew, the PTI board has on it Mahendra Mohan Gupta of Dainik Jagran, K N Shanth Kumar of Deccan Herald, Vineet Jain of Times of India, Aveek Kumar Sarkar of Anand Bazar Patrika, M P Veerendra Kumar of Mathrubhumi, R Lakshmipathy of Dinamalar, Vijay Kumar Chopra of The Hind Samachar Ltd, Rajiv Verma of Hindustan Times, Hormusji N Cama of Bombay Samachar, former Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti, academic Deepak Nayyar, former diplomat Shyam Saran and senior advocate J F Pochkhanawalla.
Addressing shareholders during Thursday’s meeting, outgoing chairman Mathew said PTI posted a revenue of Rs 172.76 crore during 2016-17 as against Rs 166.36 crore the previous year.
“PTI once again proved to be the pre-eminent news service in India with its fact-based and balanced reportage, fulfilling the news cooperative’s core commitment to its diverse subscribers,” Mathew said.