BBC splits news operation in India
By Noor Nanji
The BBC in India will separate in two from Wednesday, as it seeks to meet the country’s foreign investment rules.
The BBC will retain its newsgathering team in India for its English language digital, television and radio outlets headquartered in London.
A new, independent, Indian-owned company called the Collective Newsroom will now produce content for the BBC’s six other Indian language services.
The move comes a year after BBC India’s offices were searched by authorities.
Those searches by income tax officials came weeks after the broadcaster aired a documentary in the UK – but not in India – critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesman from Mr Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said at the time that the timing of the raids had nothing to do with the documentary, which the government attempted to block being shared in India.
When the BBC announced the formation of Collective Newsroom in December, it said the new entity would enable it to meet its commitment to audiences in India and globally, while also complying with Indian FDI law.
