MUMBAI: Hinduja TMT subsidiary IndusInd Media & Communications will have a new chief executive officer, even as the company has decided to de-merge its information technology and media businesses.

Deepak Varma, former chief operating officer of BPL Mobile Communications Mumbai, has joined IndusInd Media as the CEO. Since quitting BPL, Varma has been working with a telecom company abroad.

General CL Anand will continue as the managing director of IndusInd Media till he is relieved of his duties. "I have expressed my desire to retire from active service due to my growing age and indifferent health," Anand tells indiantelevision.com.

Several senior executives of IndusInd Media have quit the organisation over the last two years. These include KV Seshasayee who was heading the conditional access system (CAS) project and was a board member, Rajiv Vyas who was the chief operating officer of IndusInd Media, and Ram Hingorani who was vice chairman of the company. Indus Media had made investments towards CAS, but this amount is stuck as there are still no takers for the addressable system.

Anand was responsible for improving the health of the MSO and played a big role in improving collections from the ground. The relationship with the distributors also improved during his tenure.

HTMT plans to have two debt-free listed companies with mirror shareholding. While information technology and telecom businesses will form part of the technology company, media including film content and cable TV distribution and broadband will be part of the new entity. In Fascel, which is a cellular service operator, HTMT has made a financial investment and is planning to sell its stake at the appropriate time.