Vijay Garg Takes the Helm as President of AROI

Vijay Garg, Chief Financial Officer at MY FM, has been elected President of the Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI), the industry body representing India’s private FM radio operators.

Garg succeeds Anurradha Prasad, Chairperson and Managing Director of BAG Network, who stepped down after leading AROI for 15 years. His appointment comes at a critical time for the private FM radio industry, which is seeking policy interventions across several areas affecting the sector’s long-term sustainability.

Four Key Priorities for the Radio Industry

Under Garg’s leadership, AROI is expected to continue its advocacy around four key issues: permission for private FM broadcasters to air independent news and current affairs, extension of Phase III licences on the 4% Adjusted Gross Revenue model, reduction of GST on radio from 18% to 5%, and activation of FM receiver chips in mobile phones.

These issues remain central to the industry’s efforts to improve the economics of private radio and expand its reach across the country.

Nearly Three Decades of Financial Experience

Garg brings nearly 30 years of financial and business leadership experience, including more than two decades in the radio industry.

A cost and management accountant by training and a graduate of the University of Delhi, Garg began his career in corporate finance with Oberoi Hotels & Resorts before moving into broadcasting as Chief Financial Officer of Red FM.

He joined the Dainik Bhaskar Group’s radio business in 2007 and currently serves as CFO for the group’s radio business and some other businesses.

Longstanding Industry Advocacy

Garg has also been involved in AROI’s submissions to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, addressing issues including licence fees, spectrum costs, tax structures and the economics of radio broadcasting.

Speaking after his election, Garg said, “I am deeply honoured by the confidence the industry has placed in me. Radio is India’s most local, most inclusive and most cost-efficient mass medium; it speaks to the country in its own languages, free of cost, and it stays on air when every other network goes down. Yet the sector today carries a cost structure built for a very different era.”

He added that his priorities as President would include securing media parity for radio, making licence economics sustainable, addressing the tax structure and ensuring FM chips are activated in mobile phones.

“If we get these right, radio will not merely survive, it will power the local economies of Tier 2 and Tier 3 India for the next decade,” Garg said.

Building on Prasad’s Legacy

Garg also acknowledged the contribution of his predecessor, Anurradha Prasad, whose 15-year tenure at the helm of AROI helped consolidate the industry’s collective representation.

He said Prasad’s leadership had “given the industry a united voice and put radio’s case squarely before the Government,” adding that the new leadership would build on that foundation.

Garg’s elevation places a veteran radio finance executive at the forefront of the industry’s policy advocacy as private FM operators seek regulatory and economic reforms to support the sector’s next phase of growth.