Network18 Group today announced the appointment of Ajay Chacko as its Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Network18 Founder and Editor Raghav Bahl said, “We have now embarked on a path of bringing together our various business units in order to successfully ride the opportunity wave and stay focused on returns to shareholders”.

“In Chacko, we entrust the responsibility of strengthening our continued efforts to emerge as one strong network.”

Chacko will “strengthen” the business planning and monitoring processes as well as other critical support and staff functions across the group, Network18 said.

Prior to this, Chacko has led many of the group’s businesses such as CNBC—TV18, CNBC Awaaz and Forbes India.