Jawahar Goel on Friday stepped down as managing director of India’s first private sector DTH platform Dish TV after an EGM of the company, according to regulatory filings.
“Mr. Jawahar Lal Goel vacates office of Managing Director of the Company. He continues as a Non-Executive Director, in terms of the applicable regulatory provisions,” a Dish TV advisory read on the BSE website.
Goel, a younger brother of media baron-turned-politician Subhash Chandra, was associated with the company since its inception in October 2003 and has been, over the years, a vocal advocate for broadcast industry reforms.
The shareholders, led by lender YES Bank, voted against Goel’s reappointment as MD for the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31,2025.
At the EGM, two other resolutions also got rejected by the shareholders, including Dish TV CEO Anil Dua’s continuance as a whole-time director and Rajagopal Chakravarthi Venkateish’s appointment as a director of the company. Dua, however, will continue to be the chief executive of the DTH company.
In the recent years, Dish TV has been having problems with lending banks and shareholders, including YES Bank, which have been stridently demanding a restructuring of the company Board.
Goel — also popularly known as JG in the industry and amongst his peers — is credited with building from scratch, along with a stellar team, India’s first homegrown DTH platform that once straddled the market as a colossus.
Goel is also a former President of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, rechristened last year as the Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation.