
Prannoy Roy

Prannoy Lal Roy (born 15 October 1949) is an Indian journalist and psephologist, who is the co-founder and executive co-chairperson of New Delhi Television (NDTV) along with his wife Radhika Roy. He won the Red Ink award by Mumbai Press Club for lifetime achievement for his consistent and pioneering contribution to news television and his service to journalism in 2015.
Early life.
Roy was born in Calcutta to an Irish mother and Bengali Hindu father, P L ("Hurricane") Roy, who was a Collector during the British Raj in India. He attended La Martiniere Calcutta and The Doon School, Dehradun. He later won a scholarship to Haileybury and Imperial Service College in the UK for his A-levels and qualified as a British Chartered Accountant. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (England and Wales) and has a PhD in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.
Roy studied at Queen Mary University of London and was awarded Bachelor of Science with first class honours from University of London in 1973. He later earned a PhD in agricultural economics from Delhi School of Economics at University of Delhi in 1978. His academic awards include the Leverhulme Trust (UK) Fellowship, Queen Mary Prize for results at BSc and an OPOS Scholarship at the Doon School to study at Haileybury College, and Chartered Accountancy from Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1979–83.
His paternal grandfather Paresh Lal Roy was called the 'father of Indian Boxing'. Paresh Lal Roy's younger brother Indra Lal Roy was the first Indian Ace, the first Indian pilot of the Royal Flying Corp during World War I.
Roy married his school friend Radhika Roy and they have a daughter Tara Roy, a non-resident Indian. They are the adoptive parents of filmmaker Shonali Bose. He is the brother in law of Brinda Karat, a member of Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the highest decision making body of CPI(M).
Career.
Roy was a consultant for a few years at Price Waterhouse in India. He is a TV / digital journalist in India, an author and a professional British Chartered Accountant and Economist. He has been the lead anchor for election analysis and budget specials on India's national television network Doordarshan and for BBC World News' Question Time India.
In 1988, Roy, along with his journalist wife Radhika, launched a television production house called New Delhi Television. On Doordarshan, he hosted news programs "The News Tonight" and "The World This Week." He also started India's first 24-hour English news channel NDTV 24x7.
He has been an Economic Advisor in the Indian government's Ministry of Finance and an associate professor at the Delhi School of Economics. He has also been a consultant to the India division of international accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In 2009 Roy was one of two Indians serving on the International Advisory Board of Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
He has co-authored "A Compendium of Indian Elections" and "India Decides: Elections 1952–1991" with David Butler.
Controversies.
The CBI filed a criminal conspiracy case against NDTV managing director Roy in 1998, alleging fraud. In July 2013, Roy and NDTV were cleared by the courts and found not-guilty of all charges involving cases filed against Roy by the CBI under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
NDTV, through its foreign subsidiaries, is alleged to have violated Indian tax and corporate laws. NDTV has denied these allegations.
"The Sunday Guardian" ran a story which exposed the NDTV's financial misdemeanours and malpractices in connivance with ICICI Bank. It provides details of how NDTV's major stakeholders raised funds by misdeclaration of the value of shares in NDTV. NDTV has denied the allegations and the NDTV CEO replied to the "Sunday Guardian" along with the threat of "criminal defamation". On 5 June 2017, Prannoy Roy was raided by the NIA and CBI.
On 19 November 2015 the ED served a notice to NDTV for alleged violations under the FEMA act, however the company said it has been advised that the allegations are not "legally tenable".
The "Income Tax Appellate Tribunal" (ITAT) has upheld an income tax department finding that promoters of NDTV used their own shell companies to round-trip investments of during 2009–10, making them liable for recovery of tax and penalty.
In September 2018, Roy and his wife Radhika were issued a show cause notice by SEBI for violation of insider trading regulations though their company NDTV downplayed the notices stating they were seeking legal advice on the issue. Earlier that year, in the month March they were fined Rs 3 lac each by SEBI for disclosure lapses.
In August 2019, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a fresh case against Prannoy Roy, his wife Radhika Roy and former NDTV CEO Vikram Chandra for violating FDI rules and routing tainted money of unknown public servants through shell firms.
Securities and Exchange Board of India barred Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy from accessing the securities market for 2 years after an investigation revealed that they concealed material info from shareholders regarding loan agreements, making it untenable for them to hold management positions on the NDTV board. SEBI further imposed a penalty of 27 crore on the firm in this case.