Subhash Chandra Goenka (born 30 November 1950) is an Indian billionaire

media baron A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...

. He is the chairman of the

Essel Group Essel Group, (also known as Zee Group) is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company and corporate promoter headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company has had business interests in mass media, infrastructure and packag ...

, an Indian media conglomerate and founded

Zee TV Zee TV (stylised as ZEE TV) is a Hindi general entertainment pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-ba ...

in 1992. He was also the chairman of Zee Media but resigned as Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the company on 24 May 2016. He was elected to the Upper House of the Indian parliament for the

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

state in the 2016

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

election, as an independent candidate supported by legislators from the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

. On 31 May 2022 Subhash Chandra filed his nomination from

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

for elections to the

as an Independent candidate backed by the

, but he lost the election.

Early years

Subhash Chandra is born in an Agarwal Bania family in Adampur,

Hisar district Hisar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, India. Hisar city serves as the district headquarters. Hisar district has four sub-divisions that is, Hisar, Barwala, Hansi and Narnaud, each headed by an SDM. The district is also part of ...

Forbes India ''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'' which is managed by Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18. History and profile Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies and m ...

notes that Chandra was born in

, and moved with his family to Hisar during his childhood. His family had a debt of , which he had to repay. His family could not afford his higher education, and in 1965 he dropped out of school to join the family business of commission agents and traders who procured and supplied rice to the

Food Corporation of India Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ...

. In the 1980s, he started manufacturing flexible packaging (mainly plastic tubes) for fast moving consumer goods such as toothpaste under the brand name Essel Packaging. He followed it up with a leisure park Essel World in north Mumbai. In 1992, he launched

, the second private commercial television channel in the country in association with Star TV in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, and in 2003, Dish TV, the first satellite television provider in India.

Business

Chandra launched India's first satellite TV channel,

, in 1992. The channel competes with, among others,

Sony Entertainment Television Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel, that was launched on 30 September 1995, and is owned by Culver Max Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese Sony. SET India's ...

and

STAR Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedi ...

. Currently, the Zee TV network, consists of up to 90 channels, reaching 1.3 billion people spread over 174 countries. In 2005, in collaboration with Dainik Bhaskar group, Chandra launched an English-language daily newspaper, ''DNA'', in Mumbai to challenge the well-settled ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest s ...

''. The competition was one of the biggest newspaper battles of Mumbai. Sustaining earlier losses, the newspaper eventually turned around. However, by October 2019, DNA was defunct and completely shut down. On 25 November 2019, Chandra had to resign as chairman of his company

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Zee Entertainment Enterprises (formerly Zee Telefilms) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by Essel Group. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has interests in television, print, internet, film, businesses related to mobile contents, and operates 45 ...

, as per the SEBI Listing Regulations. However, he still continues as a non-executive director of the company. In his autobiography ‘The Z factor: My journey as the wrong man at the right time’, Chandra has written about his association with the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family ...

, ideological parent of the BJP, in his younger days. Chandra claimed the support of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators and said he had others across party lines. On 22 May 2020,

defaulted 616 INR Crore secured NCD Bonds with standstill agreement along with Subhash Chandra Personal Guarantee thus affecting 3,00,000 investors. In August 2020, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) appointed promoter Subhash Chandra as chairman emeritus, following his resignation as non-executive director of the firm. Subhash Chandra, who was previously chairman, would now continue to be associated with the business in an honorary fashion.

Awards

International Emmy Directorate Award The International Emmy Directorate Award is presented by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and honors individuals or organizations for their outstanding contribution to international television. The award ceremony has taken ...

(2011) * Canada India Foundation, Chanchlani Global Indian Award

References

External links

*
Subhash Chandra Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandra, Subhash Indian mass media owners Indian billionaires Living people 1950 births Marwari people Essel Group Zee Entertainment Enterprises People from Hisar district Indian television executives Indian television company founders International Emmy Directorate Award Businesspeople from Bihar Rajya Sabha members from Haryana Independent politicians in India