Veecon Media & Television: Newborn biz

The firm entered the media business in May after alterations in the objectives of its erstwhile avatar

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications announced on Monday it had entered into an agreement with Veecon Media & Television Ltd (VMTL) to sell the equity shares of its “non-core DTH business”.

VMTL will get close to 1.2 million customers and 500 employees of the RCom subsidiary — Reliance Big TV Ltd — as part of the deal. 
 

The company, which will now have control over some 1.9 per cent of the DTH market, is a new entrant in the business.

Documents available at the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show VMTL took its name and form only five months ago.

Veecon IPA Gastechnik Ltd (VIGL) changed its name and business objectives to include fields such as production, distribution, and sale of television content.

VIGL, originally involved in producing industrial gases such as nitrogen and oxygen, is a New Delhi-based company.

RoC documents show the firm’s performance had been slipping of late. During 2016-17, its operating revenue nosedived to Rs 11.41 lakh, 86 per cent lower than Rs 82.09 lakh the previous year. This was preceded by falls of 43 per cent and 52 per cent in the previous two years.

In the year ended March 2017, the firm’s net loss widened to Rs 20.14 crore from a net loss of Rs 9.70 lakh a year earlier.

Jaswant Kumar Srivastava and Lalit Kumar Srivastava have been running the company and the two hold 0.75 per cent each in it. While Jaswant is managing director, Lalit and Ashok Kumar Sharma, who holds a single equity share in the firm, are the two other directors.

Jaswant, when contacted, said he was abroad and would give details of their plans through the director handling the project.

While Sangeeta Srivastava, Seema Srivastava, and Richa Srivastava own 0.25 per cent each, Veecon Trading (India) Pvt Ltd, a family-owned company, owns 97.75 per cent in VMTL.

Veecon Trading appears to be a holding company with no operating revenue in the last fiscal year. The firm has authorised share capital of Rs 5 lakh and its paid-up equity capital stands at Rs 1,78,500. It shares the same premises as VMTL, with the registered office being in Kailash Colony, New Delhi.

Further exploration through a web of companies reveals that the Srivastava-owned group is present in broadcasting through another firm, Veecon Media & Broadcasting Limited (VMBL), which runs a spiritual television channel called Kaatyayani TV. 

“We at Veecon Media are committed to spread the Culture of India, The Indian culture, often labelled as an amalgamation of several cultures, spans across the Indian subcontinent and has been influenced by a history that is several millennia old religions, Indian philosophy have had a profound impact across the world,” its website describes the firm’s media business. It also operates a media institute and two websites, Hottestlaunches.com and Gharbazaar.net.

However, when attempted the websites were found defunct.

Another firm Vivah Television, owned by the Srivastavas, owns close to 87 per cent in VMBL and the rest is with Jaswant and Lalit.

The financials of VMBL, which Kaatyayani TV declares as the flagship entity of the Veecon Group, were healthier than the other companies mentioned above, with Rs 7.37 crore as revenue in 2014-15 and Rs 36,96,160 crore as net profit.