Gaurav Banerjee (pictured) has been appointed to take the reins at Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) as CEO and MD, succeeding 25-year company veteran N.P. Singh in the position.

Reports of Banerjee’s candidacy began circling in local media last month, shortly after Singh announced plans to step down. Sony officially confirmed the hire today, adding that Banerjee will start in his new role on or before August 26, pending regulatory approvals. 

He will oversee SPNI and the many linear channels and platforms under its umbrella, including kidsnet Sony YAY! (targeting ages six to 14) and family channel Sony SAB. In a release, Banerjee said he hopes to drive an expansion of the company’s original programming offering and regional distribution footprint to boost revenues. SPNI already has a combined reach of 700 million viewers in the Indian market. 

Banerjee joins from Disney’s Indian subsidiary, where he spent roughly 16 years serving in roles that involved curating and producing content in multiple languages. Most recently, he was head of content for Hindi entertainment and local streamer Disney+ Hotstar. 

Singh joined the company 25 years ago as chief financial officer and has been installed as CEO and MD for a decade. He will remain involved to support Banerjee’s transition through to the end of the fiscal year—and then he will shift into a non-executive chairman role. 

This leadership change comes in the wake of SPNI’s failed merger with local competitor Zee Entertainment. The companies seemingly reached a deal last year to form a media conglom that would have been valued at US$10 billion—after two years of negotiations. But SPNI called things off in January, alleging that certain conditions of the merger agreement had not been met.