The Man behind NDTV

Prannoy Lal Roy needs no introduction as the man from Kolkata has created a big name for himself in the media. He is co-founder as well as executive co-chairperson of one of the most viewed news channel, NDTV (New Delhi Television). He is best known for his truthful journalism and for being an active media personality.  Being from a well educated background, with his Irish mother being a teacher and a father who was the chief executive of the Indian unit of a British company, he himself was focused and dedicated towards his studies as well as his career right from the start. 

Prannoy Roy was an achiever right from his early days; he completed his schooling from La Martiniere Calcutta and The Doon School, Dehradun. He also won scholarship to Hailey bury and Imperial Service College in the UK for his A-levels and qualified as a charted accountant. Prannoy Roy did his graduation from the University of London’s Queen Mary College in 1973 in Economics. He later got his Ph. D from the Delhi School of Economics and therefore he is often referred as Dr. Prannoy Lal Roy.  

Career: 

With an extraordinary academic background, Prannoy Roy has a career graph that always climbed upwards. He started his career with rigorous covering of India’s general election on Doordarshan and for BBC world news. He rose to fame with news programs like ‘The World This Week’ and ‘The News Tonight’. These shows were also among the best 5 television programs of India since Independence.

Much before Prannoy launched NDTV he worked as an economic advisor in the Finance Ministry. He was employed as an associate professor in Delhi School of Economics. He also worked as a consultant under Price Waterhouse Coopers. It was in 1988 that Prannoy Roy along with his print journalist wife Radhika Roy established NDTV. Prannoy Roy who is the most recognized psephologist in India was the first media professional to anchor the television coverage of general elections in India.He has also co-authored "A Compendium of Indian Elections” and "India Decides: Elections 1952-1991" with David Butler.

From then onwards, Prannoy has been at the helm in NDTV carrying out incisive reviews of exit polls and opinion polls of every general elections held since 1988. He came out with India’s first round-the-clock English news channel-NDTV 24X7. The media company airs all its programs through its four channels, the NDTV 24X7, NDTV India (Hindi news channel), NDTV Profit and NDTV Good Times.

Prannoy has been fortunate enough in receiving the full-fledged support from his wife Radhika and the Executive Vice-Chairperson, Mr. KVL Narayan Rao. Furthermore, his star team of broadcasters, journalists, TV anchors including the likes of Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chanda, Vinod Dua, and Puja Talwar have effectively contributed towards building the company’s brand image and integrity.

Achievements:

With such a flawless career, Prannoy Roy has a list of achievements. To begin with he was Economic Advisor in the Indian government's Ministry of Finance and an Associate Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, where he developed a macro-econometric forecasting model for the Indian economy.  He has also been a consultant to the India division of international accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

In 2009 Roy was, along with billionaire Mukesh Ambani, one of two Indians serving on the International Advisory Board of Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Apart from winning international and national awards for his programs, Roy has been adjudged the "Television Personality of the Millennium" by an Indian Express poll.