I set the terms for the people who gather regional news, so that the speed we promise viewers is not paid for by whoever is least able to refuse the work.
Plus about 470 district contributors paid per story
District bureaus
31
Across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
Contributors moved into employment
141
2024; salary, social security contributions and accident cover
A news channel promises to be first at the flood, the count and the collector's press conference. Someone in a district town is asked to keep that promise at night, often without a contract. I want the cost of that promise written into our pay, our rosters and our employment categories before a crisis shows us who was carrying it.
I make sure that the speed a regional news service promises its viewers is not quietly paid for by the people with the least power to refuse the work.
I am chief human resources officer of Charuvela Broadcasting, a Hyderabad company that runs a 24-hour Telugu news channel, a rural-affairs channel and a news app. Revenue for the year ended March 2026 was ₹352 crore, a quarter of it from digital. We have 1,480 people on payroll and about 470 district contributors who are paid for each story we use. I report to the managing director, lead a team of 34 and present to the board's nomination and remuneration committee. Editorial decisions belong to the news director; I have no say in what goes on air.
My working life began in 1999 in the time office of a telecom cable factory near Hyderabad, where a wrong attendance entry became a wrong bonus and then an argument in the canteen. I then spent ten years with a mobile operator in its southern circles, where sales incentives taught me how easily a pay plan rewards the wrong event. Four years at a Kannada entertainment broadcaster in Bengaluru introduced me to crews who worked on our shoots without ever appearing on our payroll. In each place, somebody's terms were being decided a long way from where they worked.
Three decisions at Charuvela show how I work now. We retrained 92 broadcast craft staff for the app instead of closing 180 roles, and accepted a slower digital launch and smaller savings. We moved 141 long-serving district contributors into employment and gave up the advertising commissions they had been earning. We protected take-home pay under the labour codes for everyone earning less than ₹60,000 a month, and smaller increments paid for it. I would rather show a board those costs than present any of these decisions as free.
Retraining in place of 180 job cuts
An investor plan in 2022 proposed closing 180 production roles. We retrained 92 people for app work, closed 38 roles through voluntary separation. Annual savings were ₹6.2 crore instead of ₹14 crore, and district live feeds started five months late.
Contributors with a contract, not just an identity card
Of 610 contributors in 2023, 148 had filed in at least 40 weeks of the year. 141 accepted employment as district correspondents, with salary, social security contributions and accident cover, at ₹7.4 crore a year. Commission selling of district advertising, worth ₹3.1 crore, ended with it.
Take-home pay held below ₹60,000 a month
About 940 employees kept their monthly take-home pay when the wider wage definition raised contributions. The company absorbs ₹3.9 crore a year for them, and the April 2026 increment pool fell from 8 per cent to 6.5 per cent to fund it.
Current focus
I am preparing the workforce plan for the app's expansion of district live streams, including whether studio-trained video editors and camera operators can staff those feeds without the same few people working every night.
Conversations I welcome
I am seeking a first independent directorship, ideally as a member of a nomination and remuneration committee in a company with a large field or shift workforce. I can give 24 days a year, subject to my managing director's consent and a check of the company's links with our advertisers and distributors.
The leadership record
Trusted with consequential decisions.
Formation
Master of arts in personnel management and industrial relationsPennamadhi Institute of Labour Studies · 1999
Bachelor of arts in economicsSitaravindu College · 1997
Vikram brought me the contributor proposal with the lost advertising already subtracted. I did not enjoy that figure, but I never had to discover it later from somebody else.
Sridevi CharuvelaManaging director, Charuvela BroadcastingThe full record ↗
Contact
I am seeking a first independent directorship, ideally as a member of a nomination and remuneration committee in a company with a large field or shift workforce. I can give 24 days a year, subject to my managing director's consent and a check of the company's links with our advertisers and distributors.