MUMBAI: Rajat Sharma's Independent News Service Private Limited (INS), the holding company of India TV, has announced the offloading of 20 per cent stake to Bangalore-based Shyam Equities Private Limited. Shyam Equities is paying Rs 1 billion for the stake, which gives INS an enterprise valuation of Rs 5 billion.

According to a company release, INS’s enterprise valuation is up a whopping 86 per cent from Rs 2.7 bilion nine months ago.

Since Shyam Equities is a 100 per cent Indian entity, the foreign individual, foreign company, NRI, OCB, FII and PIO holding in INS remains unchanged.

The investment information has been filed with the information and broadcasting ministry.

Sharma expressed “excitement over the strategic growth blue print that will be executed 2008”. The blue print, Sharma said, includes large investments in key strategic areas beyond India TV. This includes a bouquet of channels, a distribution blitz in key international markets, and a significant entry into non-news and non-television media.

In March last year Fuse+ Media, an entity of ComVentures, a leading Silicon Valley-based venture capital and private equity group with over $1.5 billion of assets under management, had placed an equivalent of Rs 509 million of FDI in INS for a 19.17 per cent stake.