CNBC-TV18 has formidable 25 yrs' experience of covering Budget in real-time: Shereen Bhan

It is a busy time for news channels, especially business news channels as there are hectic preparations for the presentation of the Union Budget 2024-25 on July 23.

In conversation with Adgully, Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18, gives an indepth look at the behind-the scenes preparation for the Budget coverage and the special programming lined-up to offer an all-inclusive comprehension of the budget to its audiences – from the industry’s movers and shakers to the common citizen.

After the interim budget earlier this year, how is CNBC-TV18 gearing up for the first Budget of the Modi 3.0 Government? Could you tell us about your special programming around the Budget?

CNBC-TV18 has 25 years’ experience of covering the Budget in real-time. This, I think, gives us a certain advantage, expertise, and specialization that nobody else enjoys, at least across television media. We’ve always attempted to be innovative as far as our budget programming is concerned, and over the years, we have evolved our programming to include different constituencies to make it much more relevant to not just the industry, but also from a citizen’s perspective, from a student’s perspective. Going beyond how the budget impacts you, our effort has also been about explain what the budget means to us as citizens, what it means broadly for the Indian economy and the nation.

So, there has been a two-pronged approach to our strategy. One is decoding the fine print of the budget in real-time for our audience, but at the same time presenting the bigger picture of how the needle moves for the country’s balance sheet. We had a significant programming effort even for the interim budget, even though that is typically just a vote on account. But since it was the last vote on account of the previous government, the expectation was that maybe there could have been a policy direction articulated by the Finance Minister, but it was a short and sweet budget. So, this time around, we brought in some new elements as far as our programming is concerned.

In fact, just today we had our CNBC-TV18 Market Town Hall, because if you look at the way that the markets have performed, India has been one of the best-performing markets globally. There is a lot of interest in the Indian equity market story at this point, and the markets are reacting to the possibility of what the budget will bring forth. We had put together some of the best market veterans, domestic as well as global. We had Chris Wood, who is one of the best global strategists and investors, along with 15 other top market stalwarts like Ramesh Tamani, Pashupati Advani and Jayakumar and many others, talking about what they believe is the bull case for India, where they see the Indian markets in the near to medium term, in the long term, which sectors do they believe will do well, and so on. So, this was a very curated offering for our market audience.

Outside of that, we have, of course, been conducting our CNBC-TV18 Budget Town Halls. We did a very large one with CII, where we had almost 100-plus CEOs representing different sectors talk to us about not just what they expect from the Budget, but also how they see the economy, and what’s the mood in the industry. Different sectors have been captured by way of stories on what the industry expects or hopes for from the Budget.

We have started something called the Budget Box. We’d brought it in during the interim budget. We had then called it the Budget Ballot to play on the elections. Through the Budget Box, we are collecting suggestions and recommendations from across different parts of the country on what they would like the finance minister to do, to make it more of a participatory exercise. So, we’ve taken the Budget Box to colleges to get the perspective of the youth. We’ve taken the Budget Box to malls and to cinema halls to get the average Indian to participate in what is a key economic event in the country.

On the Budget day itself, we are going to have a very special element outside of our regular 24/7 programming. I don’t want to reveal it just yet, because we are keeping it a little bit of a surprise to mark two milestones – to mark the milestone of this being the 7th consecutive budget that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to present; and it will be a milestone for us as well, as we are marking this moment in our 25th year. So, all will be revealed on the Budget Day.

What is the tagline for your Budget coverage this year and how will it reflect in CNBC-TV18’s programming?

We do have a specific tagline and we’ve always had a specific tagline for our budget coverage. We pick up on the theme that we believe reflects the mood of the nation and the mood of the industry. At this point, we felt that the most appropriate tagline was to ‘Go for growth’. While we have done well and we are one of the fastest growing large economies in the world today, we do realize and recognize the fact that there is potential for stronger growth and there is a need for stronger growth. So, our tagline this year is building on that aspiration that India must build on the current growth momentum, and that we must ensure that we capitalize on the opportunities. ‘Go for growth’ is the overarching theme for all of our programming and our budget coverage.

According to you, what are the key areas and issues that need to be highlighted the most? What is the key question that you will be asking?

If I were to just thread together the key asks that have come in from various quarters, I think the number one is continuity. We would like to there to be continuity as far as measures and policy stability are concerned. So, don’t do anything disruptive. Don’t undo what has already been done. The one message that is very clearly coming through from different stakeholders that we have spoken to is that just continue to build on what has already been put in place. The building blocks are in place. The fundamentals are looking good at this point. Let’s not do anything disruptive to try and sour the mood.

Number two, I think both in terms of the ease of doing business as well as the cost of doing business, and there are specific areas such as logistics cost, the cost of manufacturing and so on – these two continue to be areas where more needs to be done. There are specific recommendations across different sectors that have come in to ensure that there is both ease of doing business as well as an improvement in the cost of doing business.

Number three, I think the industry is very appreciative of the fact that growth, especially in the post-Covid period, has been driven by the massive government spending that has happened on infrastructure. And so the hope is that that will continue. The wish is that the government does an even higher allocation versus what they had done in the interim budget. The CII is asking for 30%, and FICCI is asking for 25% higher capex by the government, on public spending, on infrastructure, etc. So, the hope is that the government will continue to drive growth by spending more on infrastructure.

And finally, I think in terms of consumption, the expectation is that perhaps this could be the budget, especially in light of the fact that there was disappointment which kind of played itself out through the course of the elections as well, that maybe more could have been done to provide some relief for the rural poor, for the middle class, etc.

These, I would broadly say, are the four key asks at this point that various stakeholders have from the government. And of course, finally, this is also going to be the first budget of this government. And we do know that both Andhra Pradesh and Bihar have very clearly put their demands forward for special assistance, for a special package. So, those political considerations will also have to be factored in by the Finance Minister.

We also have other crucial state elections coming up in Maharashtra, Haryana, etc. So, perhaps there will be some political considerations that this Budget will need to take into account.

Could you tell us about who are the big names that we can expect in the guest line-up this year, and also how will you be engaging with them?

We start our programming pretty much from 07:00 in the morning. And I think on Budget Day you will see at least 100-plus faces on CNBC-TV18 of leaders from different walks of life, not just business leaders, but we will have economists, policymakers, government officials, ministers. So, it’s a very wide and diverse range of opinion makers who you will see on the channel, of course, through the course of the morning, which is where the markets are trading. The focus always is on how the budget is impacting the markets. And so you do have much more of the brokerage view. You have domestic investors, and global investors addressing the markets and what the budget means as far as the markets are concerned.

We also have tax experts looking at the fine print, both from an industry perspective as well as a citizen’s perspective. So, you will have some of the best tax faces with us on Budget Day. We will have all the secretaries of the government, and the entire North Bloc team joining us with their post-budget sort of rationale on why certain decisions were taken, and why the budget was the way that it was. We get it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Of course, the Finance Minister, as always, will join us. And for many years now, her first interview with a private network has been to us. There will be other ministers who will join us as well, depending on which ministry gets what allocation. And, all the big faces of the industry, whether it is Anish Shah of Mahindra, Sanjeev Puri of ITC, Sanjeev Bajaj of Bajaj Finance, former HUL CEO Sanjeev Mehta – a whole host of the top leaders of industry will join us through the course of the day. So, as I said, it will be a mix of industries, tax experts, global voices, rating agencies, government officials, and key ministers of the government.

The audience for the Budget is very wide – from the common man to the movers and shakers of the industry. How is CNBC-TV18 reaching out to its varied audience base to make the budget relevant and easy to understand for them?

You also have to look at CNBC-TV18 not just as a TV brand. CNBC-TV-18 is multi-dimensional in the sense that, of course, our mainstay is TV, but we also function across different platforms. We have our website CNBC-TV 18.com, which will be putting out stories that capture the essence of what the budget means for you and me, what is going to be more expensive, what is going to be cheaper. If there are any tax changes, what do those tax changes imply as far as, the impact on your wallet, which sectors have benefited, and which sectors have lost out? CNBC-TV18.com will also generate thousands and thousands of stories on the day, which captures all of these elements. And it’s easy for people to be able to access and read on their own time on social media, which is on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, etc. Again, our effort will be to de-jargonize the budget and make it much more accessible, democratizing what the budget can be for people. Thus, we’ll have digital videos that are very simple explainers to again, highlight key elements of the budget. The five key numbers that you need to take note of from the budget, the ten sectors that were impacted by the budget, or what the budget means as far as jobs are concerned, what the budget means for your wallet, or what the budget means as far as FMCG is concerned. Various elements and numerous aspects of how the budget impacts our lives will also be part of the coverage that we do, and that will be in a very conversational way – through Reels, videos, and so on.

There’s also going to be a ‘sachetisation’, if I could call it that, of otherwise what is a very expansive and complex issue. But the effort will be to satisfy that with shorter videos, etc;, which make it easier for people to access and easier for people to understand, especially connect with a younger audience as well.

How will you be using your YouTube channel for a complete budget coverage?

We will use our YouTube channel very effectively. There will be different streams running on YouTube simultaneously. One will, of course, be the live stream of television so that you can access CNBC-TV18 on YouTube, on your mobile phone or desktop. And then there’ll be separate streams. So, we’ll have a stream coming in from various locations. For instance, there’ll be a stream coming in from CII. There’ll be another stream coming in from FICCI. There’ll be specific programming only for YouTube, which will capture much more of the citizen-focused aspects of the budget. It’s a program called ‘Budget and You’, where some of our anchors will look at the elements that matter to you and me. We will also make it much more interactive for the viewers. So, if people have questions, we will get tax experts to clarify them. If they have questions and clarifications required, we will have people give them the appropriate advice and the appropriate inputs.

Could you give us an idea of what goes on in the CNBC-TV18 ‘Budget Newsroom’? How big is the team involved and how are they prepped for the entire coverage?

Of course, there’s a 25-year experience to fall back on, but how the preparation goes on, not just in the run-up to the budget, but the budget day and the post-budget analysis, which continue for several weeks after that – I think, it starts with having the clarity of purpose. And we’re very clear that our job is to educate, to inform, to clarify, and help people connect the dots. Our job is to help people take actionable decisions that are smart for them – be it with their investments or any other aspects of life choices – that is our purpose. And that drives everything that we do, that drives our newsroom, our programming strategy, our budget coverage as well. It is, of course, very dynamic.

And as a team over the years and especially on big days, you have to learn to be agile and nimble. You have to also be ready to factor in the fact that you could have your plans in place and then something could happen that could derail those plans. It requires you to be on-the-ball taking decisions in real-time. So, you have to be extremely dynamic in your decision-making. And I think over the years we have developed that instinct and our muscle memories fairly strong because we have learned on the job. I think that does kick in, and that certainly helps us deal with unexpected events or unexpected situations. But the most important is having clarity of purpose.

Two, I think, is alignment. We’re a very well-connected team. We spend a lot of our time prepping for the big day. We do calls virtually every day, have meetings virtually every few days to take stock of the situation, to take stock of our guest list, to take stock of the shows that we are going to be focusing on, the themes that we’re going to be focusing on. So, theres a lot of prep work that happens and there’s a lot of alignment and communication between us, the core team that is driving this effort.

One might think that with such an expansive exercise, we must have an expansive team. But actually CNBC-TV18 is a very lean machine. So, we don’t operate with a very expansive team, but we operate with a very tightly knit and very efficient team, where responsibilities are very clearly allocated. And I think that helps because there’s very clear allocation of who’s going to be doing what, who’s responsible for what. And hence, there’s also accountability. And that’s not just for Budget Day, that’s how we live every day. That’s how we keep our newsroom going. And I think that’s how we managed to retain our leadership because the attempt and the effort is to try and be better every day, to try and improve what we did the previous day. And that, to my mind, paves the way for excellence. So, that continues to drive us. That’s part of our DNA, that’s part of who we are. And so even on big days like the Budget Day, I think that’s what really keeps us going and keeps us ahead.