Prannoy Roy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Prannoy Roy
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Roy in 2014
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| Born | 15 October 1949 Calcutta, West Bengal, India
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| Known for | Co-founder of NDTV |
| Spouse(s) | Radhika Roy |
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| Awards | Asian Television Award; Red Ink Awards |
Prannoy Lal Roy (born 15 October 1949) is a well-known Indian economist, journalist, and author. He is famous for co-founding NDTV, a major news channel in India, with his wife Radhika Roy. He was also a leader at NDTV for many years.
Early Life and Education
Prannoy Lal Roy was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, India, on 15 October 1949. His father, P. L. "Hurricane" Roy, worked for a big company. Prannoy's grandfather, Paresh Lal Roy, was a traffic superintendent and a boxer. He is known as the "father of Indian boxing" because he helped make the sport popular.
Prannoy is also related to Lolita Roy, who worked for women's rights. His great-uncle, Indra Lal Roy, was the first Indian "flying ace" (a pilot who shot down many enemy planes). He is also a cousin of the famous writer Arundhati Roy.
Prannoy went to La Martiniere Calcutta and The Doon School. This was a private boarding school for boys in Dehradun. While there, he met Radhika Das, who later became his wife. Radhika also went to a boarding school in Dehradun called Welham Girls' School.
Prannoy and Radhika later moved to London, United Kingdom, for college. Prannoy studied economics at Queen Mary University of London. He graduated with top honors in 1973. He then became a certified chartered accountant in 1975. A chartered accountant is someone who is an expert in managing money and finances for businesses. Prannoy and Radhika got married in London. After their studies, they returned to India and settled in Delhi.
Career in Media
In India, Prannoy continued his studies at the Delhi School of Economics. He earned a PhD in agricultural economics in 1978. After that, he worked as a consultant for a company called PricewaterhouseCoopers India from 1979 to 1983.
Prannoy was always very interested in election results. He made his first election prediction for the 1977 Indian general election. This prediction was published in a magazine and was very accurate. In the 1980s, he started working with other experts to make election forecasting more common in India. He became known for predicting election results very well. For example, he accurately predicted the 1984 Indian general election results. This made him famous as a top election expert in India. He helped start the idea of opinion polls in India.
New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) was started in 1984. It began as a company that made shows for other news channels. Radhika and Prannoy Roy are the co-founders of NDTV. Radhika was a journalist before starting NDTV. At first, NDTV made a weekly international news show called The World This Week for Doordarshan, a public TV channel. This show became very popular.
Prannoy Roy also taught as a professor for a year at the Delhi School of Economics in 1985. Later, NDTV started covering election results and budget news for Doordarshan. The first time election results were shown on TV in India was by NDTV in 1989. Prannoy Roy became a TV journalist by covering these elections. He also became a news presenter for The World This Week. Both the election coverage and the news show were very successful.
In 1995, NDTV started producing a daily news show about India called The News Tonight. The Roys got investments from Indian businesses, including the Tata Group, to make this show. Prannoy Roy became the main face of NDTV as a news presenter. Radhika Roy focused more on the behind-the-scenes work, like editing and production.
In 1998, NDTV partnered with Star India to launch India's first 24-hour news channel. NDTV faced some challenges from the government during this time. There were investigations, but a court ruled in 2013 that there was no wrongdoing.
In 2003, NDTV became an independent news broadcaster. They launched two new channels: NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India. The company became public in 2004. After 2011, Prannoy and Radhika Roy became the main leaders of NDTV.
After 2014, NDTV faced more challenges. The news network had reported critically about important events. In 2016, the government tried to ban the Hindi news channel NDTV India. This led to protests from journalists, and the ban was stopped. In 2017, Prannoy Roy's home was searched. Many journalists and groups said this was an attack on press freedom.
In 2019, Prannoy Roy wrote a book called The Verdict: Decoding India’s Elections with another expert. NDTV continued to face legal issues. In 2020, a fine was placed on the Roys, but the Supreme Court of India later helped them.
In December 2022, Radhika and Prannoy Roy sold most of their shares in NDTV to the Adani Group. This made the Adani Group the biggest owner of NDTV.
Awards
Prannoy Roy has received several academic awards. These include the Leverhulme Trust Fellowship and the Queen Mary Prize for his excellent results in economics.
In 2015, he won the Red Ink award from the Mumbai Press Club. This award was for his lifelong contributions to news television and journalism.
