Vikram Chandra (journalist)

Vikram Chandra (born 7 January 1967) is an Indian TV journalist and technology expert, who is the founder of Editorji Technologies. He was the CEO of NDTV Group from 2011 to October 2016.[1][2][3] He is considered among the leading journalists in India today.[4] Chandra's reputation as a journalist was built while covering the Kashmir conflict. He is the former anchor for the Nine O'Clock News and was, until recently, host of Gadget Guru and anchor of The Big Fight.[5][6][7]

For the writer and author of Sacred Games, see Vikram Chandra (novelist).

Vikram Chandra
Born
Vikramaditya A. Chandra

(1967-01-07) 7 January 1967
Delhi, India
Other namesVikramaditya Chandra
Alma materUniversity of Delhi
Oxford University
OccupationJournalist
Founder; Editorji Technologies
Spouse(s)Seema Chandra

Early life and career

Vikram Chandra's mother Nandini Chandra was a journalist with The Hindustan Times.[3] He is an alumnus of The Doon School, where he was the editor of The Doon School Weekly. After his secondary education, Chandra received his bachelor's degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.[3][8] He also studied at Oxford on an Inlaks Scholarship.[3][7] He studied mass media at Stanford University for a three-month period.[3][7] He is married to Seema Chandra.[3]

Chandra, son of an IAS Mr. Yogesh Chandra, began his career in television journalism in 1991 working with a TV news magazine called Newstrack.[3] He has been with New Delhi Television Limited since 1994.[3] During these years, he worked on the prime time 9 O'Clock News, Gadget Guru (with Rajiv Makhni), which was a review show about new technologies. He is best known for his award-winning anchor position on The Big Fight, which is one of India's top rated talk and current affairs shows.[3]

In 2007, he was named CEO of NDTV Networks.[9] He added NDTV Convergence to his portfolio in 2009.[10] From 2011 to October 2016, he was CEO of the NDTV group. He resigned from NDTV in 2016 to found 'editorji'[11] and was replaced as NDTV CEO by K V Narayan Rao who had already had one stint as NDTV's CEO in the past. Vikram Chandra continued his association with NDTV as a guest anchor until April 2019, and then devoted himself full time to his own startup named 'editorji'.[12] In August 2019, he was booked, along with the NDTV co-founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, by CBI for alleged FDI norms violation.[13] After an investigation on the same, in November 2020, SEBI has found that Vikramaditya Chandra for making an illegal gain of ₹ 6,67,385, from selling shares during the restricted period. Accordingly, Chandra has been asked to disgorge the illegal gain amount along with 6% interest. Along with that, he has been barred[14] from trading in the securities market for a period of one year.

Chandra's first work of fiction, the thriller The Srinagar Conspiracy, was published in 2000 and became a best seller. Chandra received acclaim for his familiarity with Kashmir, where the book is set, and his use of the English language.[6]

Notable assignments

As a reporter, Chandra was assigned to Kashmir, where he reported on war and conflict. Chandra had an exclusive footage of the army camps at the Saltoro Heights in Siachen.[15]

As the anchor of The Big Fight (NDTV), Chandra has interviewed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2006,[16] Bill Gates in 2012,[17] Shimon Peres, and Rupert Murdoch. He also interviewed Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc. in May 2016, during the latter's visit to India. In 2018, he interviewed former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Chandra has been active in public interest media campaigns in India. He has worked on several "Greenathons," which is a media campaign to expand the electrical system to rural areas and finance solar lanterns to bring light to homes.[7] He has also been active in the "Save our Tigers" campaign to stop poaching. He is also very popular among scholars for his significant contribution to various social and political themes.[7]

Awards

In 2007, Chandra received the designation "Global Leader for Tomorrow" from the World Economic Forum in Davos when he was selected as a "Young Global Leader."[3][18] He has twice won the Hero Honda Indian Television Academy Award for Best Anchor for a Talk Show for The Big Fight in 2005 and 2008[3][19][20] and the Teacher's Achievement Award for Communication,[8] amongst other coveted recognitions.

References
  1. "NDTV Corporate Page". NDTV. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. Bhat, Varada (30 July 2011). "NDTV rejigs management". Business Standard. New Delhi: Business Standard Ltd. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  3. "A nose for news – Mehnaz Nasreen and Rohit Manchanda". The Sunday Indian. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  4. "Top Five Journalists in India". Chillibreeze.com. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  5. Bansal, Shuchi (19 February 2008). "NDTV scores big with entertainment channel". Business Standard. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  6. "I will still do the 'Big Fight': Vikram Chandra". Exchange4media.com. 1 August 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  7. "Kargil was a very emotional experience: Vikram Chandra – CoolAge". Coolage.in. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  8. "A rendezvous with Mr. Vikram Chandra – CoolAge". Coolage.in. 30 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  9. "Vikram Chandra made CEO of NDTV Networks PLC". Exchange4media.com. 24 February 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  10. 25 August 2009 – 2:09PM (25 August 2009). "Vikram Chandra Is CEO, Suparna Singh Named Deputy CEO at NDTV Convergence – paidContent". Paidcontent.org. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  11. Ramarko (3 May 2019). "Vikram Chandra to launch Editorji, his new startup". Retrieved 11 December 2019. The start-up is called Editorji and deals with harnessing robotics and AI for news genre.
  12. Laghate, Gaurav (27 October 2016). "Vikram Chandra steps down as NDTV CEO" – via The Economic Times.
  13. "NDTV's Prannoy Roy, wife, former CEO booked for alleged FDI norms violation". Press Trust of India. 21 August 2019 – via Business Standard.
  14. News, MoneyLife. "Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy, Vikram Chandra, others barred from capital market for insider trading of NDTV shares: Read details". Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  15. "My Life My Style: Vikram Chandra, CEO of NDTV". Business-standard.com. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  16. "Saudi King Abdullah Begins Asian Tour, Signaling Shift in Foreign Policy: #evworld". Evworld.com. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  17. "Steve Jobs and I are quite different: Bill Gates - NDTVProfit.com". Profit.ndtv.com. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  18. Social Post (17 January 2007). "Omar says honoured to be named young global leader | India – Oneindia News". News.oneindia.in. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  19. "2005". IndianTelevisionAcademy.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  20. "2008". IndianTelevisionAcademy.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
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