Chairperson of Tata Trusts Mr. Ratan Tata has acquired a stake of Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) on Monday “in his personal capacity”. Although the chunk of stake involved has not been disclosed by either of the companies, the acquisition can be seen as Tata’s foray into the digital content space. PNC is known for producing a plethora of Bollywood films and was in news for producing ‘Four More Shots Please!’ released on Amazon which garnered an International Emmy nomination. The show was also awarded Asia’s Best Rising Star Award in the Busan International Film Festival.

PNC on Monday issued a press statement to the Securities Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) obligations and disclosure requirements regulations. The issued statement says, “Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons and Chairman of Tata Trusts, has, in his personal capacity, acquired a stake in Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd through market purchases last week. Mr. Tata invests in start-ups and technology companies.”

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Founded in 1993, PNC was one of the first media companies to go in public in 2000. The company was listed in India’s two major stock exchanges: BSE and NSE. The company was founded by journalist Pritish Nandy primarily known for his poetic prowess and production of television and OTT content. Nandy’s company PNC’ forayed into television through the Doordarshan show called Pritish Nandy Show, hosted by the namesake.

Over the course of his career, the 70-year-old journalist has presented more than 500 news and current affairs show on Doordarshan, Zee and Sony TV. All of these shows were produced under the PNC brand. PNC has also featured in the Deloitte Touche’s Fast 500 list, and ranked among the 500 fastest growing companies in the tech, media and telecom space in the Asia Pacific region. According to the company, no other company has been on the list from India apart from PNC.

The company has also received over 350 International and National award nominations for the content it has produced. In 2005, PNC’s founder Pritish Nandy won the Best CEO Award at the World Marketing Congress from the Indian Institute of Management and Marketing. Moreover, 2 films produced by PNC have been shortlisted for the Indian entry at the Oscars and their scripts are preserved at the Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles. The Times of India group acquired the PNC owned movie art collection in 2008.

However, the numbers tell a different story altogether. According to the financial data found at BSE’s website, PNC has reported negative financial performance in December 2020 with its financial score falling from –10 to –2 in just 3 months. Much to the relief of traders, after the news of the acquisition broke, PNC started trading more than 9.80% higher at Rs. 23.50 on BSE.

Meanwhile Ratan Tata, who is mostly known for his philanthropic ventures, has also invested massively in the hottest and most growing startups in India. These include Ola, Paytm, Urban Ladder, Lenskart, Curefit and more. The salt-to-software conglomerate chairman also invested in ‘Generic Aadhar’, a unique pharmacy chain conceptualized and operated by a 18-year-old boy from Mumbai. According to reports, Generic Aadhar will be unlike most pharmacies as it would sell medicines at much cheaper rates to consumers.

 

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