Exchange4media Group hosts IMPACT Person of the Year Award 2015

Arnab Goswami, President-News & Editor-in-Chief, Times Now and ET Now was awarded the IMPACT Person of the Year 2015, instituted by the exchange4media Group, for his outstanding contribution in the field of journalism

Mumbai, December 17, 2015: The Exchange4media Group held its annual IMPACT Person of the Year Award 2015 in Mumbai. The Chief Guest on the occasion was Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad.

After a stringent selection process, Arnab Goswami, President-News & Editor-in-Chief, Times Now and ET Now was awarded the IMPACT Person of the Year 2015, instituted by the exchange4media Group, for his outstanding contribution in the field of journalism. His achievements were acknowledged by Annurag Batra and Nawal Ahuja of exchange4media Group and Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors.

In his address, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Cabinet Minister for Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, said, “I have seen Arnab grow literally. In one of our BJP’s national executive in Panjim when Mr. Vajpayee was the PM, Arnab had come to cover the rally. After the rally, he had no qualms to pick up the camera and take it on his shoulders. The journey had begun there, and now we see he has become an icon for the country.”

Accepting the award, Goswami thanked his peers and the media industry, "I have always wanted a level playing field and I thank the industry for giving me this. My industry made it possible for me to dream, otherwise a small town guy would not have been able to stand in front of you today," he said.

Expressing his gratitude for the media industry, Goswami added, "When I left NDTV, Uday Shankar advised me to "Fly Solo", which has been my motto. However, there have been so many people who have helped me, who stood by me. When I was down, they stood by me. When our ratings had crashed one year after launch, my industry supported me. When we introduced a new way of journalism in India, my industry stood by me like a rock. I thank all of you, my friends, my peers."

Speaking about the IPOY 2015, Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-chief, exchange4media Group, said, “The IMPACT Person of the Year Award in the last 11 years has come to be synonymous with leadership and achievement at a scale that transforms our industry.”

The shortlisted names for the coveted award this year included the likes of: Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Industrial Policy and Promotion, Govt. of India, Arnab Goswami, President-News & Editor-in-Chief, Times NOW and ET NOW, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, CVL Srinivas, CEO of GroupM, South Asia, Kunal Bahl, Co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal, Nikesh Arora, President & CEO, SoftBank Corp, Rana Kapoor, Co-founder, MD & CEO, Yes Bank and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO, Paytm.

The selection process for IPOY 2015 was handled by IMRB International, on the basis of industry-wide polls.

Past winners of the IPOY award include Punit Goenka, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (2014),  Vineet Jain, Managing Director of Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (2013), Ambika Soni, former Minister for Information & Broadcasting (2012), Agnello Dias, Founder, Taproot India and Haresh Chawla, then Group CEO, Network18 and Viacom18  (2011); Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India (2010); Rajesh Kamat, then CEO of Colors (2009); Raghav Bahl, Founder, Network18 and Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN (2006).