MUMBAI: Sahara India Entertainment Management, a joint venture company created to look after Sahara's media and entertainment businesses, will be funded entirely by the Sahara Group.

Percept, the other 50 per cent partner in the joint venture, will provide human resources and manage the operations. The joint venture company will have a 30-member team with Percept IMC joint managing director Shailendra Singh in charge.
 
 
The new company will charge a fee from Sahara. "It is a variable fee structure, linked to how much revenues we manage to garner from the media and entertainment businesses," says Sahara India Entertainment Management chief operating officer Peter Isaac.

Sahara's contract with Percept is for five years, but the exit option can be exercised after three years. "It is a unique management contract system in India. There are a few examples of this nature in the overseas market," says Isaac.

The management company will ideate, form a business plan and be in charge of synergising Sahara's media and entertainment businesses. The 'super-structure' team will strictly supervise the execution of the projects. The old Sahara team will report to the management company.

Already, the four businesses - television, motion pictures, radio and special projects - have been brought under the umbrella brand of SaharaOne. "The underlying philosophy of this joint venture is to entertain India. We will use SaharaOne across all the media and entertainment platforms of the Group," says Isaac.
 
 
Sahara India Entertainment Management will be responsible for putting systems, structures and people into place. While Ernst & Young will be involved in setting up IT processes, KPMG will look at the business part. "We expect KPMG to submit the report by the end of the month," says Isaac.

The budget and targets for the next one year will be fixed after the company's board meeting, scheduled this month-end.