Sumita Vaid
Media

Bhaskar launches three more editions in Gujarat; to invest Rs 125 crore in expansion

Bulk of the investment, to the tune of Rs 105 crore, would be pumped into Divya Bhaskar, to make it ‘the most read Gujarati newspaper across Gujarat’

The Rs 1,002-crore Dainik Bhaskar group has its heart set on Gujarat.

Buoyed by the success of Divya Bhaskar - an AC Nielsen ORG-Marg study in Ahmedabad in August showed Divya Bhaskar is the largest read newspaper with 11.83 lakh readers, followed by Gujarat Samachar (9.79 lakh readers) and Sandesh (8.12 lakh readers) - the media group has decided to launch three more editions in the state.

To that effect, the group has set aside an additional investment of Rs 125 crore. (This amount is exclusive of the earlier investment of Rs 140 crore made by the group for Ahmedabad). Bulk of the investment, to the tune of Rs 105 crore, would be pumped into Divya Bhaskar, to make it ‘the most read Gujarati newspaper across Gujarat'.

To begin with, the group is setting up more printing centres. It has recently set up a full-fledged printing unit at Mehsana, 90 km from Ahmedabad. "This investment on the printing plant is to ensure that readers at Mehsana and nearby districts get the latest news that is collected till 1.30.am. In other words, this is an attempt to give bread hot from the oven to the readers of north Gujarat," says Sudheer Agarwal, managing director, The Dainik Bhaskar group.

This will help Divya Bhaskar strengthen its domination in the entire north Gujarat region comprising 10 districts - Anand, Gandhinagar, Kheda, Surendranagar, Mehsana, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad, Patan and Palanpur. The expansion of Divya Bhaskar will enhance its printing capacity by another one-lakh copies.

The rest of the investment, that is, Rs 20 crore would be spent on the Hindi flagship brand - Dainik Bhaskar - to consolidate its stronghold at various printing centres.

Bhaskar hopes to set up seven more printing centres by the end of 2004. Explains Agarwal, "We want all our editions to be printed by 12 in the night. Which is why we plan to have printing centres located within two to three kilometres from each other." The group is setting up independent printing units for Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), Sikar (Rajasthan) and Sagar (Madhya Pradesh). Currently, Ujjain and Sikar are being catered to from centres such as Indore and Jaipur.

The group is adding colour to some of its editions. These editions include Jaipur and Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Bhopal and Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Raipur (Chattisgarh) and Hissar (Haryana). To begin with, Jaipur will get eight to 10 pages of colour everyday from September 15. Bhopal, Indore, Jodhpur, Hissar and Raipur will follow suit.

With the new investment and other changes, the group is obviously hoping to grow its advertising revenue. "We have recorded a 20 per cent growth in our advertising revenue last financial year (2002-2003)," informs Girish Agarwal, director, Dainik Bhaskar. "The revenue from advertising was Rs 200-crore plus last financial year, and we are confident it will grow."

Interestingly, national and local advertisers have contributed to this growth in equal measure. This is a strong indication of a potentially lucrative market in regional areas. Rajasthan, and to an extent Madhya Pradesh, are major contributors to the group's advertising revenue, but Sudheer Agarwal, assures "…in no time Gujarat will overtake these two. Gujarat Samachar earned about Rs 120 crore from advertising and Sandesh about Rs 65 crore last year. Clearly there is tremendous potential in the market "

Simultaneously, the group plans to expand its cable TV business - Bhaskar TV - to three more cities. Currently, Bhaskar TV is operative in Jaipur and Indore. In Jaipur, the company enjoys a considerable market share - to the tune of 80 per cent. Siti Cable is the only competitor. In Indore, Bhaskar TV has the lion's share of 99 per cent.

The group recently invested Rs 2 crore in Jaipur and a little less than Rs 2 crore in Indore to spruce up its network. Bhaskar beams fives of its own channels including a channel each on news, music, dial-a-song, a devotional channel and Bhaskar TV. While, the cable business is not doing well in terms of subscription revenues, Garish Agarwal is hopeful the situation will improve. © 2003 agencyfaqs!

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