BBC splits operations in India, forms indigenous news company after surveys

The BBC announced that it was forming an independent, Indian-owned company called the 'Collective Newsroom' that will produce content for the BBC's six regional channels

The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is set to restructure its operations in India following regulatory tightening by local tax authorities. The restructuring will involve the division of its operations into two separate entities, the 'Financial Times' reported.

The BBC announced that it was forming an independent, Indian-owned company called the Collective Newsroom. This company will produce content for the BBC’s six regional channels that broadcast in Indian languages such as Hindi and Punjabi. The BBC has applied for a 26 per cent stake in Collective Newsroom, but it will operate largely independently from the broadcaster to adhere to strict government regulations.

The new media company will be owned and managed by Indian BBC journalists who are leaving the corporation. It will provide news and other programming through a service contract with the UK news outlet, which broadcasts in English and six Indian languages.

Prior to the split, the BBC had approximately 300 journalists in India, with around 80 of them continuing to work directly for the BBC’s news operation.

This restructuring comes after the BBC offices in India were raided by India's tax authorities in 2023, an operation that lasted several days.

The raids, referred to by the government as a “tax survey”. It came days after the BBC aired a documentary examining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in communal riots during his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat.

The Indian government condemned the documentary and implemented strict directives to ban the sharing of any clips or footage from it, despite it only being broadcast in the UK. 

Subsequently, officials from India's income tax department questioned senior BBC staff members for three days, though the government denied any connection between the raids and the documentary, citing an investigation into alleged violations of India's foreign investment regulations.

Despite these challenges, the BBC had said that it remained committed to producing content from India, not only in English but also in Indian languages. Collective Newsroom will also have the ability to create content for other Indian broadcasters, though it remains uncertain whether it will be subjected to the same standards of impartiality as all other BBC programming.