Next 100 Years of Essel Group: Conglomerate betting big on digital future, plans to keep attention economy in spotlight

Next 100 Years of Essel Group: Essel Group completes 100 years today, May 21, and on the occasion, the Indian multinational conglomerate has shared its vision for the "next 100 years". In its roadmap, the company signals a transition towards integrated and future-ready businesses built around content, technology and digital landscape.

Technology, Digital Platforms in Focus

In its vision for the future, the Group said technology will remain its central focus area as it seeks to strengthen existing businesses and build new-age digital platforms capable of capturing and sustaining consumer engagement.

"The Group is building integrated, future-ready platforms that can capture, sustain and convert engagement into long-term value and garner a significant share of the Attention Economy," the company said.

The strategy reflects Essel Group's continued attempt to reinvent itself, something it says has remained part of its business philosophy since 1967, when it shifted from a traditional trading business into a modern conglomerate with what it describes as a "start-up culture".

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From Adampur to a Global Conglomerate

From its beginnings in 1926 in the small town of Adampur, Essel Group has evolved into a diversified business conglomerate with operations spanning more than 190 countries. Over the decades, the Group expanded across sectors including media and entertainment, infrastructure, packaging, education, technology, real estate and financial services.

Building India’s Media and Entertainment Ecosystem

Over the years, the Group has launched several industry-first ventures in India. It entered the entertainment space with Essel World, which emerged as one of Asia’s largest amusement parks, before transforming India’s media landscape through the launch of Zee TV in 1992 and Zee News in 1995.

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The Group later expanded content distribution through Siti Cable and Dish TV, helping shape India’s evolving media and entertainment ecosystem and creating new opportunities in broadcasting, production, advertising and digital content consumption.

'Persistence, Resilience, Innovation and Growth'

Essel Group said its future plans are aligned with India’s larger growth ambitions and are aimed at driving innovation and creating opportunities that contribute to the country’s next phase of economic and cultural evolution.

Commemorating the milestone, Dr Subhash Chandra described the Group's 100-year journey as one built on "persistence, resilience, innovation and growth".

"Our belief that progress must create value for society and the Nation at large has guided the pioneering steps undertaken by the Group across every business dimension," he said.

Dr Chandra added that Essel Group's journey has evolved alongside India's own growth story, with the conglomerate contributing to employment generation, infrastructure development and the expansion of India’s media and entertainment sector over the decades.

Dr Chandra said, "Essel Group's journey has been one of persistence, resilience, innovation and growth. Our belief that progress must create value for the society and Nation at large has guided the pioneering steps undertaken by the Group across every business dimension. Me and my brothers are extremely proud to mark this momentous milestone of 100 years that has been built by generations of vision and courage to venture into the unknown and truly leave an imprint of a century across every industry. Essel Group’s journey has evolved alongside our Nation, and I am proud to note that together, we have unlocked economic value and enabled social transformation to drive national progress."