The 137-year-old The Hindu, from Kasturi & Sons, hit the stands in Mumbai with an exclusive edition for the city on 28 November 2015. The daily continues to be published from 17 other cities.
In an official statement, Dr. Malini Parthasarathy, editor, The Hindu, said, “We realise our core brand strength is the credibility and integrity of our reporting. This brings authenticity to our perspective. At the same time, we acknowledge Mumbai’s great transformation into an upwardly rising global city. Our edition has eight pages uniquely catering to Mumbai. We hope to capture both the buoyant and the poignant stories emanating from here.”
The edition has launched with a subscription offer including door delivery at Rs 248 per month, which implies a cover price of Rs 8. This makes it the most expensive daily in the market. Early bird discounts have been announced to the tune of 24 per cent for all subscribers and 48 per cent for students.
Announcing the launch at a press meet at the publication’s Mumbai office were Dr Parthasarathy; N Ram, chairman, KSL; N Ravi, director, KSL; Rajiv C Lochan, CEO, KSL; and Sachin Kalbag, resident editor – Mumbai, The Hindu.
Lochan revealed that there was a ‘high percentage of youth’ among the daily’s early bird subscribers in the city.
English dailies in Mumbai that the new entrant will compete with for readers and their time include The Times of India, Mumbai Mirror, Hindustan Times, DNA, The Indian Express, Mid-Day and The Asian Age.
Asked about whom The Hindu would consider competition in Mumbai, Ram said, “Nobody.” He added, “We have respect for all the newspapers published here. Maximum city offers space for our kind of journalism.”
Dr Parthasarathy echoed the thought, when she said: “We have been looking at the news scene in Mumbai and we found space for credibility.”
(Comments made at the press meet have been sourced from the The Hindu’s official Twitter handle.)
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