Hindi Media

Business Standard (BS) has launched its Hindi business daily. The newspaper, which will be published from Mumbai and New Delhi under the eponymous Business Standard name, hit the news stands on February 16. More editions are expected to be announced in the coming months. TN Ninan, editor, Business Standard, says, “The last few years have seen the rapid growth of Hindi newspaper readership. We are delighted to have the opportunity to now serve Hindi readers with the best business news and analyses.” The Hindi version of the newspaper will be targeted at small and medium size entrepreneurs (SMEs), traders and small investors. The objective of launching a Hindi daily is to meet the strong need for information by individuals and SMEs in a resurgent economy. TN NinanMost business dailies in the country are available only in the English language. BS believes that there are a large number of small time entrepreneurs who see language as the major barrier in their quest for business related inf

© The Brand Reporter Nafa Nuksan (NN), the six-day (Monday-Saturday) business daily published from Jaipur, goes to every Tehsil headquarters in Rajasthan. It is also looking to spread its wings to other states. Jitendra Kothari, director, NN, reveals that the company is in talks with some media houses for partnerships. ‘‘We’ve approached leading Hindi dailies in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and other states. There’s been some positive response. We have an editorial strength, which they can certainly leverage on,’’ he says. NN was launched in 1996 as a weekly and became a daily in April 2007. The paper is priced at Rs 3 and caters to businessmen, stock-brokers, traders, chartered accountants and property dealers. Kothari states the content is different in some ways from its English counterparts. While one page is dedicated to local news, the rest of the paper focuses on national and international news. ‘‘But our USP is the importance we give to the need of the Hindi-

Dhaleta Surender Kumar dhaleta.surender@thebrandreporter.com © The Brand Reporter If Ajay Chacko, director, TV18 Business Media, is to be believed, the circulation of English business dailies in India is a mere 12 lakh. He discounts some regional-language business dailies, saying that the numbers are minuscule, so they hardly make a dent in the total circulation. Take for instance, the print run of Nafa Nuksan, the Hindi business daily in Rajasthan. It’s a mere 20,000. Ask Financial Express (FE), which has a Gujarati version; the print run may be far less as it is not ready to reveal the figures, but claims that it has a readership of about 25,000. Economic Times (ET) too has a Gujarati version. However, there is a need in the regional space for business dailies and media houses have woken up to it. ET and Business Standard (BS), both are believed to be coming up with a Hindi version of their respective papers in the near future. Jagran Prakashan and Network18 have announced a 50:50 jo

Bharat Kapadia has joined the recently announced Jagran-TV18 JV, Jagran-18 Publications Ltd, as CEO and Managing Editor. The primary mandate of this JV is to launch a Hindi business daily in 2008. Subsequently, this will be followed by other Indian language dailies focused on financial and economic news. Kapadia would be reporting to the Board of this JV. It may be recalled that TV18 and Jagran Prakashan (JPL) had announced a 50:50 joint venture initiative in the business print space. Commenting on Kapadia’s appointment, Mahendra Mohan, Chairman and Managing Director of Jagran Prakashan Ltd, said, “The language media space has revealed strong potential for specialised business news and information, which this venture will fulfill. The business dailies that will be launched through this venture will further strengthen Jagran Prakashan’s portfolio of market leading offerings to millions of its readers. Bharat’s credentials in the print media space are exemplary and we believe he will be