Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
Bhaskar to enter Hindi business daily space
This Hindi pink daily, with 15 editions, is expected to hit the stands by the end of July
After Business Standard and The Economic Times went Hindi, the Bhaskar Group, too, is coming up with a Hindi business daily, if the industry buzz is to be believed.
Sanjeev Kotnala, national head, communications, Bhaskar Group, refused to divulge any details, except that “the group has firm plans to come up with a Hindi business daily”.
As per the buzz, the group’s Hindi business daily will be out by the end of July, and will have around 15 editions in the Bhaskar strong markets – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. The collective print run is expected to be around two lakh.
The Bhaskar Group’s closest competitor, Jagran Prakashan, had already announced, earlier this year, its plans to come out with a Hindi business daily in association with Network18.
Another Hindi major, Amar Ujala, too, plans to come up with a Hindi business daily by the end of 2008. Amar Ujala had started a Hindi business daily, Karobar, way back in 1994, but closed it down within five years. The new newspaper will have a different brand name. While Karobar was published from Indore, Kanpur and Delhi, the new daily will be published from Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Dehradun and Delhi.
“We’ll probably be the last one to launch a Hindi business daily. We’d like to see what the others are coming out with and try and differentiate the product,” Sunil Mutreja, president, marketing, Amar Ujala, told agencyfaqs! earlier this year.
Besides the above, there are other smaller players in the Hindi business daily space like Nafa Nuksan (published from Jaipur, which goes to every tehsil headquarter in Rajasthan), Vyapar Kesari, published by the New Delhi based National News Service Online, and Vyaapar, published by the Janmabhoomi Group of Newspapers, which caters primarily to readers in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Nafa Nuksan, too, is looking to spread its wings to other states such as Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Last month, the Bhaskar Group launched its Hindi daily, Dainik Bhaskar, from six new centres – Bhilai and Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh); Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh); Shimla (Himachal Pradesh); and Pali and Nagaur (Rajasthan).