Dalian

Newspapers Still Work in India

While newspapers may be a suffering in most markets, they remain a growth business in India, according to Raju Narisetti, the former editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, who recently launched what is now India’s newest and fastest-growing business newspaper, Mint.

Narisetti said his English-language newspaper has quickly gathered readership among the highly sought-after 28 to 45 year old educated urbanites and says circulation has grown from 60,000 copies at launch in February to more than 100,000 now.

Among the reasons he cites for newspapers still succeeding in India and other developing countries, are rising levels literacy and limited access to Internet.

“People want to be seen reading a newspaper,” Narisetti said. “We are still a product of aspiration.”

Narisetti reckons that newspapers have about a decade in India before they start facing the same Internet-related problems felt by publications in Europe and the United States.

Launched with the venerable Hindustan Times, Mint sets itself apart editorially by breaking out of the insular style of most Indian newspapers. Instead joining other publications to cover the fact that the Indian-born CEO of Pepsi wore a saari to the board meeting, Narisetti said Mint actually looks at the performance of the company.

To differentiate the newspaper physically, they decided NOT to make it pink (Almost every Indian business newspaper is pink). The newspaper also has Berliner format, similar to Le Monde or The Guardian, and a title not normally associated with am business publication. (An Indian expression for doing well in business is: “He’s minting money”.)

The newspaper was not launched as a free newspaper because local distributors need a share of revenue. That said, with a cover price of less than a cup of tea, potential business readers will not find their publications budget unduly strained.

More detail directly from Raju on the video.

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