MUMBAI: In a bombshell announcement that's sent shockwaves through India's media landscape, NDTV's editorial director Sonia Singh is to call it quits after a 32-year relationship with the broadcaster.

The network confirmed yesterday that Singh, a senior management heavyweight and one of the most recognisable faces in Indian television, has handed in her notice "due to future career plans."

NDTV will bid farewell to Singh on 30 April, ending her three-decade stint at the network that began way back in September 1992 when India's television landscape was still in nappies.

Singh, who sports an impressive CV featuring a Master's in English Literature from the prestigious St Stephen's College, where she topped her class and ranked second in Delhi University, has been no mere talking head during her lengthy tenure.

The brainy broadcaster also moonlit as a visiting fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School and sits on the Global Advisory Council of the World Woman Foundation.

Her academic credentials include scooping an Italian government scholarship to study at the University of Perugia and nabbing the UK's coveted Chevening Scholarship for a journalism course at Cardiff University – proof that there's more between her ears than perfectly coiffed hair and teleprompter skills.

As journalist Singh has grilled prime ministers and movie stars with equal aplomb.