MUMBAI: Former head of the Mumbai edition of the Hindustan Times Gurmeet Singh has joined Network18 Group as CEO - Forbes India, with immediate effect.

Prior to heading the Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times, he was handling ad sales for Hindustan Times and Mint in the West Zone.

Singh started his professional career with FMCG major Marico Industries Limited. After over five years of FMCG sales and brand management experience at Marico which included successful alliances with Pepsi and Camlin, he moved to Sony Music to handle sales and marketing for North Zone.

He has also worked at the India Today Group, where he was the business director of Music Today.

Network18 Group COO B.Sai Kumar said, "After the tremendous success of ?Forbes India? and the strong debut of ?Forbes Life India? recently, we believe that the Forbes India stable in India is poised for its next phase of growth and profitability and are delighted to have Gurmeet on board to drive that. His diverse experience & strong understanding of media brands, position him well to lead Forbes India forward."

TV18 Business Media president and editorial director Senthil Chengalvarayan added, "Forbes India?s growth has been built on challenging conventions and delivering a premier editorial product and we believe Gurmeet will be instrumental in pushing that agenda further."

MUMBAI: TransStadia will spend about Rs 600 million in five years towards developing the global World Series Boxing India team.

The company recently signed a 10-year deal in Astana Kazakhstan with World Series of Boxing, a property owned by Aiba, the apex body of the sport worldwide.
 
TransStadia MD & CEO Udit Sheth said that the company is the exclusive rights holder for India for perpetuity.

In terms of the factors that prompted the company to get involved with this event, Sheth said: "We saw what Aiba was trying to build worldwide. We believe it is a fantastic opportunity for Indian boxers to showcase their capabilities at the international level. TransStadia is in the business of sport where we create, manage and host sporting IP."

The team will be named in the third week of the month with the coach. The coach will subsequently recruit the players in September.

Talking about the event, Sheth said: "A total of 12 teams
participate in this event. In our group we have Moscow, Mumbai, Milan, LA, Pohang and Astana. We will be fighting five home and five away matches. The top 4 teams from each group will qualify for the next stage. A total of 67 fights will happen in WSB Season II."

In terms of the marketing initiatives being undertaken, he said: "We will be building the brand of our team on core values of India that have to do with hardwork, perseverance and strategy. We will be developing several youth programmes and talent development initiatives. Also our focus is to develop an academy as well. We want to work very closely with the IBF and the AIBA to make this a success in India."