The Jabalpur-based Bhaskar Prakashan Private Limited, which brings out the Hindi daily Daink Bhaskar, launched a Mumbai edition on 9 May 2023. Promoted by the Jabalpur-based Agarwal family, the group is present across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra with 7 editions and 43 sub-editions and an average daily readership of 1.85 million readers, according to its website.
Bhaskar Prakashan, which began in 1985, is different from the Bhopal-headquartered DB Corp (Dainik Bhaskar Group), one of India’s biggest media houses that has editions in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati across 12 states.
According to financial details accessed by IppStar, in the year 2020-21, Bhaskar Prakashan reported net revenue of Rs 91.47 crore and a total income of Rs 92.16 crore. Operating profit (EBITDA) stood at Rs 11.95 crore and profit for the period was Rs 0.42 crore.
Mumbai has a sizable (around 30-35% according to various estimates) Hindi-reading population and it would be interesting to see how Daink Bhaskar takes on the already established players such as Navbharat Times (NBT) from BCCL and Nava Bharat. The 14-page newspaper costs Rs 5.
Bhuvendra Tyagi, who was earlier with NBT, is leading the Dainik Bhaskar team as the Executive Editor. The Indian Printer and Publisher tried to reach out to the management for a comment but our queries went unanswered till the time of going to the press.
In 2024, we are looking at full recovery and growth-led investment in Indian printing
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. It created the category of privately owned B2B print magazines in the country. And by its diversification in packaging, (Packaging South Asia), food processing and packaging (IndiFoodBev) and health and medical supply chain and packaging (HealthTekPak), and its community activities in training, research, and conferences (Ipp Services, Training and Research) the organization continues to create platforms that demonstrate the need for quality information, data, technology insights and events.
India is a large and tough terrain and while its book publishing and commercial printing industry have recovered and are increasingly embracing digital print, the Indian newspaper industry continues to recover its credibility and circulation. The signage industry is also recovering and new technologies and audiences such as digital 3D additive printing, digital textiles, and industrial printing are coming onto our pages. Diversification is a fact of life for our readers and like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
India is one of the fastest growing economies in nominal and real terms – in a region poised for the highest change in year to year expenditure in printing equipment and consumables. Our 2024 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock – to emphasize your visibility and relevance to your customers and turn potential markets into conversations.
