New Delhi: The BBC’s services in India will soon be produced by a new entity called ‘Collective Newsroom Private Limited’, which will be set up by four Indian employees of the British public broadcaster to comply with government rules about foreign direct investment (FDI) in digital news outlets.In a statement, the BBC said that its services in six Indian languages – Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu – apart from those in English for an Indian audience, will be commissioned by the BBC and produced by Collective Newsroom.“The establishment of Collective Newsroom Private Limited ensures the BBC and Collective Newsroom can meet their shared commitment to Indian audiences and cover stories on India that matter to global audiences. It is in compliance with the Indian Foreign Direct Investment law,” the statement says.The BJP-led Union government imposed a cap of 26% FDI for digital news outfits operating in India. According to reports, 99.99% of BBC World Service India’s shares are owned by its UK-based public broadcaster. The new company is expected to begin operations in April 2024, when the next financial year begins.The four Indian citizens who are leaving the BBC to form and lead Collective Newsroom are Rupa Jha, Mukesh Sharma, Sanjoy Majumder and Sara Hassan. “These senior leaders have a wealth of editorial and programme-making experience. The BBC will commission Collective Newsroom to produce its six Indian language services as well as Indian digital output and Indian YouTube channel in English for audiences globally,” the BBC said.According to Newslaundry, Collective Newsroom is expected to absorb all of BBC India’s staff but the new company may move out of the BBC’s office in Delhi, located in Hindustan Times House. The report adds that “the salary and terms of employment for the employees of Collective Newsroom will be on the lines of the BBC”.Rupa Jha, who will lead the company, said: “Audiences in India can be assured that the BBC’s Indian language services and unique range of quality output will inform, educate and entertain audiences across our diverse and highly engaged country under the agreement between the BBC and Collective Newsroom. We launch Collective Newsroom with big ambitions for audiences in India and beyond.”Jonathan Munro, the deputy CEO of BBC News said the BBC’s presence in India is “steeped in a rich history that has always put audiences first” and welcomed the formation of Collective Newsroom.Earlier this year, the BBC was raided by Indian income tax authorities in February, just days after it aired a documentary about Narendra Modi’s alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Though the documentary was never aired on Indian television, the Union government went to great lengths to see that it is not available on social media.The BBC said in its statement that it “has a long-held and deep-rooted place in India’s media landscape, having first launched the Hindi language service in 1940. Since then it has developed a range of BBC output, expanding the number of Indian language services and growing audience figures from decade-to-decade with its agenda-setting and high impact journalism.”But a lot is also unsaid. It decided to make India a production hub for its World Service programmes, significantly expanding them after 2005-06, in a move that startled long-time BBC watchers. They had been firm about retaining ‘editorial control’ and this meant retaining their London headquarters as a base for productions. The reason given was that political environments in most countries were not to be trusted with the BBC being able to independently and seamlessly report. Only a few countries in North America and Europe were trusted as production hubs. A belief in 2005-06 that India had arrived as a stable and safe place for independent journalism guided that decision.Today, India is among the bottom twenty countries in the World Press Freedom Index, at 161 out of 180.