Uday Shankar, President of The Walt Disney Company for Asia Pacific and the chairman of Star and Disney India, has been elected as the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India’s oldest industry body, for 2020-21. Shankar will be succeeding Sangita Reddy, joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals Group.

Shankar is the first-ever media and entertainment executive in India to lead a national industry chamber, FICCI said in a press release.

He has earlier been the president of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and the chairman of FICCI’s media and entertainment committee.

A trained journalist, Shankar also pioneered the development of the television news ecosystem in India.