NDTV founder Prannoy Roy and wife Radhika, who ceded control of the company to billionaire Gautam Adnai’s conglomerate, are back in the media realm with a new product, deKoder, an AI-enabled platform for elections-related data.
In a YouTube post, Prannoy said that deKoder was an AI-based website and an app. While the pre-launch is slated for January 15, the formal launch is to take place within a week.
So what’s deKoder? According to information made available by Roy, it’s a research lab with the largest ever database on Indian elections. And, with Al, it will be the most accessible to every subscriber for their own research and analysis. Analysis of global elections and other trends will follow shortly.
In addition, the new product hopes to spearhead a large number of social campaigns on issues like environment, wildlife, the girl child, health of Indians, and other issues that are key to India’s future.
deKoder is being launched by NDTV founders, Radhika and Prannoy Roy and daughter Tara Roy who was deeply committed to the special campaigns and projects on NDTV.
The Roys-founded NDTV, which was one of the early entrants into the Indian broadcasting arena when it started opening up for the private sector from the mid-1990s, was slowly taken over by the Adani Enterprises through a group company when the process started over 18 months back.
The Adani Group in 2022 announced the acquisition of a remaining tranche of 27.26 percent equity stake in NDTV from founders Prannoy and Radhika Roy.
The acquisition was completed on December 30, 2022, on the block deal window of the NSE. Adanis now own a 64.71 percent stake in the TV news company, which had witnessed another deal with the founder, Roys, earlier giving the Adani group substantial stake in the news venture.