145-yr-old English daily, The Pioneer to launch a Hindi edition

145-year-old English daily, The Pioneer, which launched its first edition from Lucknow in 1865, is now planning to launch a Hindi edition by October, this year. The Hindi edition will also use the same title. The group will launch multiple editions from the state capitals of its existing markets.

According to the sources, The Pioneer's Hindi edition will be a 16 page offering and will initially print 4,000-5,000 copies. "The Hindi edition will depend largely on government ads, and with this edition, the group wants to have a complete bouquet offering both Hindi and English newspapers," said the source.

The new daily will face competition from major Hindi dailies including Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran and Hindustan.

Prior to 1991, The Pioneer was based in Lucknow. The same year when the Thapar Group bought over the English daily, it turned into a national daily.

The daily is now published from Delhi, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Bhopal, Dehradun, Ranchi and Chandigarh. Earlier, the newspaper also had a full-fledged Kanpur edition but now, it maintains a DAK edition from Lucknow for the industrial city of the state.

The cover price of the new offering has not been decided yet. The group has installed new printing machinery for the Hindi daily.