The Millennium Post, a New Delhi-headquartered English language daily newspaper with editions in Kolkata and New Delhi, has been acquired by the Techno India Group. The Kolkata-based TIG owns Aajkaal Publisher, which produces the widely-read Bengali daily Aajkaal.
The Techno India Group’s managing director Satyam Roychowdhury, who is also chairman of Aajkaal Publishers, tweeted this information on 10 October 2022. “Techno India Group just added another feather to its cap through the acquisition of Millennium Post. Millennium Post is an English language daily published simultaneously from Delhi and Kolkata.”
The Millennium Post was launched as a 16-page broadsheet daily on 2 May 2012 by Durbar Ganguly, former vice chairman and joint managing director, The Pioneer Group, who is also its editor. Its present editions, however, have been restricted to 12 pages.
Printed and published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma, the Delhi edition is printed at the Indian Express plant in Noida and the Kolkata edition at the Aajkaal press.
The editor Ganguly did not respond to emails sent to the id provided at the newspaper’s online portal. Roychowdhury could not be reached for an official comment.
CEO Sanku Bose, however, was recently quoted by exchange4media.com as saying that the acquisition of the English language publication is part of its long-term business strategy, and to help its media school students to gain exposure in the field. The Techno India Group runs a media school in Kolkata.
No further details of the acquisition have emerged though some media observers feel the buyout by Techno India Group could be part of its move to have a foothold in Delhi ahead of the 2024 general elections. The Millennium Post, on its part, wanted to infuse fresh life to the newspaper struggling to stay afloat after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both The Millennium Post and Aajkaal are said to be close to the TMC government in West Bengal. Coincidentally, both newspapers, in their Kolkata editions on 15 January 2023, led with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s interview to a news agency, speaking about Mamata Banerjee’s “ability to become the prime minister of India.”
Another prominent Bengali newspaper run from Kolkata, Bartaman Patrika, had last year launched a Hindi-language edition, targeted at the sizable Hindi-speaking population in the city. Bartaman Patrika was founded by Barun Sengupta, a former Anandabazar Patrika journalist. Once known for its anti-Left stance, Bartaman Patrika is now considered to be close to the TMC government.
The Techno India Group operates in the education, hospitality, and healthcare industries – running a network of educational institutions in Eastern India. “A collaborator with world’s leading IT giant Hewlett Packard (HP), Techno India Group encompasses 100 knowledge campuses with 4 university campuses, 22 Engineering colleges, 12 Business schools, 18 Public schools, 2 upcoming medical colleges and 4 health care units,” its website says.
