Indian publishing giant ABP has announced that chief executive Dipankar Das Purkayastha has decided to step down after four decades with the company.

Prominent in the industry locally and through his involvement with both WAN-Ifra - of which he is a board member - and INMA, he told an Ifra World Publishing Expo audience in Berlin in 2019 how digital was "starting to eat our breakfast, too".

Back in Kolkata, West Bengal, where the Ananda Bazaar Patrika publisher has its headquarters, ABP become increasingly prominent for its online news and TV channels in Hindi and English, with Purkayastha taking a leading role in driving the transformation. He was appointed chief executive in August 2019.

Anandabazar Patrika was first published in 1876 in what is now Bangladesh by Sisir Kumar Ghose and Tusharkanti Ghose, with the Sisir family's ABP group being re-established in 1922. The Bengali daily and associated publications have been credited for their leading role in Bengali culture and society including the independence movement. English-language daily The Telegraph has been published in Kolkata since 1982 and now has five print editions.

As GXpress and its print edition increased its coverage of Indian newsmedia affairs over years, Purkayastha has been valued friend and contact, and we wish him well for the future.

Pictured: DD Purkayastha at the IfraExpo in 2019