Aero India 2021 on track for February 3 take - off

UDAY SHANKAR iS PRESiDENT-ELECT, FICCI (2020-21)

Mr Uday Shankar is the President-Elect, FICCI for the year 2020-21. Mr Shankar will be succeeding Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI, and Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group during FICCI’s 93rd AGM on 11,12 & 14 December 2020.

Mr Shankar is the President of The Walt Disney Company for Asia Pacific and the Chairman of Star and Disney India. He is the first-ever media and entertainment execuve in India to lead a naonal industry chamber such as FICCI, which is India’s oldest industry body. edion of Aero-India

Mr Shankar presently leads Disney’s direct-to-consumer business in over 30 countries. He has been credited with the creaon of pathbreaking entertainment shows and bringing world-class sports broadcasng to India. He also envisioned the digital transformaon of Star by creang Hotstar, which has now expanded globally as Disney+ Hotstar.

In addion to his leadership at Disney and Star, Mr Shankar has played a key role in shaping the growth trajectory of the media and entertainment sector in India, to benefit industry stakeholders as well as consumers. He has been at the forefront of landmark iniaves in television broadcasng, such as selfregulaon of content and digizaon of the broadcasng sector. He has earlier been the President of the Indian Broadcasng Foundaon (IBF) and the Chairman of FICCI’s Media and Entertainment Commiee.

A trained journalist, Mr Shankar also pioneered the development of the television news ecosystem in India. Prior to Star India, he was the CEO and Editor of Star News, the country’s first 24-hour news channel. He has also been the Editor and News Director at TV Today Group, where he spearheaded the launch of Aaj Tak in 2000 and Headlines Today in Economic History from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

AERO INDiA 2021 ON TRACK FOR FEBRUARY 3 TAKE - OFF

The Paris Air Show that was scheduled to be held in June next year may have been cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, but there is no change in Aero India 2021 schedule and the five-day event is all set to take-off on February 3. In the run-up to the air show, a webinar series started from Thursday with experts discussing “Joint Maldives High Level Defence Engagement.” Preparaons for the biggest aerospace exposion, the 13th in 2003. Mr Shankar holds an MPhil

2021 to be held at Air Force Staon Yelahanka in Bengaluru are going on.

“We are going ahead with Aero India 2021 and there is no change,” Kapil Mohan, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department told TNIE on Thursday. The senior IAS officer, who is closely coordinang with various state government departments that are providing assistance to the Ministry of Defence in conducng the show, said preparaons for the event are going on as planned. However, keeping in mind the pandemic, there will be some changes as far as public parcipaon is concerned. Number of visitors to the show is likely to be restricted to avoid crowding. Some events are also likely to be held online.

However, there are apprehensions over foreign firms aending the show as many countries are experiencing the second wave of Covid. In the last edion in 2019, 238 Indian and 165 foreign exhibitors had displayed their products, and about 4 lakh business and general visitors had aended the event.