MM Gupta of Jagran Prakashan Ltd is new PTI Chairman; Shreyams Kumar of Mathrubhumi Vice-Chairman

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Dr. Mahendra Mohan Gupta of Jagran Prakashan Ltd, which publishes Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, was on Friday elected Chairman of the Press Trust of India's Board of Directors.

Gupta’s election took place at a meeting of PTI's Board of Directors following their Annual General Meeting at the news agency's headquarters in New Delhi. Gupta replaces K.N. Shanth Kumar of The Printers(Mysore) Pvt. Ltd.

The Board also elected M.V. Shreyams Kumar of the Mathrubhumi group as the Vice-Chairman.

Dr. Gupta, 84, is the Non-Executive Chairman of Jagran Prakashan Ltd and has been associated with the media group since its inception. He had also held the position of Editorial Director of Dainik Jagran.

Dr. Gupta, who has more than 60 years of experience in the print media industry, has held various key positions including the Chairman of United News of India (UNI), President of The Indian Newspaper Society (INS), President of Indian Languages Newspaper Association (ILNA), Council Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations and Member of Press Council of India. He also holds senior honorary positions in various social and cultural organisations.

He was a Rajya Sabha MP from April, 2006 to April, 2012 and is at present member of the Executive Committee of the INS.

In May, 2018, the Jharkhand Rai University, Ranchi conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in recognition of Dr. Gupta's outstanding contribution to media leadership and public life. His work for the cause of society, Indian trade and industry in general and newspaper industry in particular has been acknowledged by various social, cultural and professional bodies in India.

Press Trust of India is the country’s largest and oldest private news agency. It was founded two weeks after Independence in 1947 by a group of newspapers, which also own it. The shareholders, however, receive no part of the company’s profits, which go back towards the development and modernisation of the news agency.

Besides Dr. Mahendra Mohan Gupta, Shreyams Kumar and Shanth Kumar, the 15-member PTI Board includes Aveek Sarkar(Ananda Bazar Patrika), Vijay Kumar Chopra (Punjab Kesari), Vineet Jain (Times of India), N. Ravi (The Hindu), Viveck Goenka (the Express Group), Riyad Mathew (Malayala Manorama), Sameer Singh(Hindustan Times), L. Adimoolam (Dinamalar), Hormusji N. Cama (Bombay Samachar), eminent economist Prof. Deepak Nayyar, former Foreign Secretary and NSA Shivshankar Menon, and former Executive Director of Tata Sons Ltd. R. Gopalakrishnan. PTI GSN GSN GSN