Final Project Hindustan Times

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COMPANY PROFILE

HT Media Limited is a major player in the print media in India. It has a leadership position

in the market in North India and the second position in the English News Paper market in

the North and East. The group now intends to consolidate itself as a vibrant and modern

media powerhouse through strategic partnerships, ever-increasing scope of operations and

a consumer focused approach.

Hindustan, the flagship publication from the group, was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi

in 1924 and has established its presence as a newspaper with editorial excellence and

integrity. Hindustan Times commonly called as "HT" was founded in 1924 by Master

Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, the founder-father of the Akali Movement and the Shiromani

Akali Dal in Punjab. Master Sunder Sigh Lyallpuri started the newspaper with

contributions from USA, Canada and locals from the Lyallpur District. 

HT today has become a leading newspaper in India. Because of the authenticity of its

news, the newspaper has become a market leader for English papers in north India. The

newspaper has been working non- stop since the Indian independence movement.

Prominent faces like Devdas Gandhi and Khushwant Singh have at times edited the paper. 

Hindustan Times has proved its nation wide reach in India. Leadership through quality and

innovation is the hallmark of the Hindustan Times Limited. The paper issues simultaneous

editions from New Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Patna and Kolkata. It is also printed from

Bhopal, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Ranchi. HT has also come up with India's first youth daily

called as HT Next in 2004. The Mumbai HT edition was launched on 14th July 2005.

However, the print location of Jaipur HT was discontinued from June 2006. Recently HT

has launched a national business newspaper called Mint, with an agreement with Wall

Street Journal to publish Journal branded news and information in India.

Over seven decades the organization has been a major force in the print media. The

Hindustan Times Ltd. plans to consolidate itself as a vibrant and modern media

powerhouse through strategic partnerships, ever-increasing scope of operations and a

consumer focussed approach.

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Today, Hindustan has a circulation of over 1.4 million and is the fastest growing mainline

in terms of readership. Hindustan, Delhi, is India’s largest single-edition daily. In July

2005, Hindustan made a successful entry into the commercial capital of India – Mumbai.

Hindustan, the Hindi daily from HT Media, is one of the leading Hindi dailies in the

country with a readership in excess of 10 million. This makes it the fourth largest read

daily in India.

The group's news portal HindustanTimes.com, with over 2 million unique visitors and 100

million page views per month, is one of the largest news portals in the country. It is the

flagship publication of HT Media Ltd. Hindustan Times is one of the largest newspapers

in India, by circulation. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation

of 1.4 million copies as of 2010.

INDIAN NEWSPAPAER INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

Newspapers and newspaper advertising has been the most important tool in shaping the

growth and development of any society in the modern world. More than anything, they

have been very instrumental in bridging the gap between the people that contributes to the

air of awareness in the society. Since the very first day the oldest newspaper has made its

appearance, there has been seen progressive changes that have catapulted the status of

every society to new levels of evolution from time to time. The newspaper industry in

every country stands out as an influential body contributing to the development of the

modern society by acting as one of the most potential platform for exchange of thoughts

and opinions. Moreover, by covering a wide arrange of topics that are relevant to the daily

lives of people in a society, it promulgates the identity of the society, and acts as a

dispenser of public opinions . One of the most crucial tasks of newspaper industry is it’s

contribution towards the economic and industrial development of a country through it’s

assimilation of people’s voice.

The Indian newspaper industry has passed various stages of evolution to

reach the status that it enjoys today- that of leading press arena in the world. There are

hundreds of newspapers that reach out to the people of it’s vast country in enormous

numbers every morning. A Typical Indian daily newspaper is the staple diet for typical

Indian, bringing him/her news from all over the globe. Since daily newspapers succeed in

attracting more readerships, an Indian daily newspaper is the order of the morning for

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eager news hungry readers across the country. By garnering an increasing number of

subscribers in the form of readers, newspapers completely reflect the individuality of the

reader and the country as well. The growth in circulation of newspapers in the country

results in overall economic prosperity of the country, elevating it to the higher levels. An

Indian daily newspaper strikingly plays a significant role in the structural shaping of the

country’s economic development. In fact, the newspaper industry of any country for that

matter spreads knowledge and awareness among the people by propagating itself as a

medium for a wide area of topics such as politics , sports , social issues, medicine ,

advertising , entertainment and so on.

Researchers have discovered a place where the newspapers a threatened

species in parts of the world, is thriving. In most of the parts of the world the age old

newspaper industry is fighting a loosing battle to the online news sources and in most parts

surrendering to it. However in India, home to 1.1 billion people, not only is the press in

robust health, but it’s growing at an astonishing rate.

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ROLE OF NEWSPAPER

“Pen is mightier than the sword”

Newspaper is primary source of information. Newspapers are more than just a sheet of

paper lined with ink. Newspaper is a medium through which the facts and figures of the

events going on around the world reach even to the places where there is no electricity.

Their productions hold a much greater significance than providing profit for the company.

Newspapers give us a medium to get information about news regarding employment, ma-

trimony, gadgets, real estate, sports and the list goes on...The daily newspapers express the

interests and understanding of the public. As a result, the entire conservative community

from researchers to managers to educators -- watches the press carefully.

Apart from this, newspaper industry gives employment to millions of people across the

globe.

CURRENT SITUATION OF NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY

Newspaper is the oldest and most conventional method of giving news on wide array of

topics to the people at their doorstep. The newspaper industry at the global arena has come

a long arena from presenting news in black and white to adopting the most innovative of

methods, including colored background and text, unique paper materials, etc to depict all

kinds of news for the readers. The Indian newspaper industry has the record of giving the

most number of newspapers to the readers, both at national as well as regional levels. One

of the oldest newspapers of India, The Statesman was founded in 1818 and still continues

to maintain the same status that it used to command. It has been almost two centuries now

since it’s inception of the oldest newspaper in the country. During this period the Indian

newspaper industry has achieved tremendous grounds of success for various newspapers

that are circulated throughout the country. The most unique fact of the Indian newspaper

industry is that newspapers in various regional languages, Hindi & English are published

and circulated throughout the country. The Indian English newspaper sector is the most

published and circulated throughout the country. The Indian English newspaper sector s

the most published and circulated lot in the Indian newspaper Industry.

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With the newspaper industry as a viable platform for the proliferation of

advertising and marketing of public relations, there has been witnessed an impressive

explosion of newspapers at all levels. A typical Indian English newspaper serves as an

ideal banner for companies who would look forward to advertise their products or services

keeping in mind the strength of readers nationwide. Since a newspaper is the first thing

that most of the citizens of the country go through early in the morning, it stands at an

advantage of making its stand in full view of massive number of readers. The more the

readers or viewers of the advertisements, the more the impact that the advertisements have

made in the minds of the people. An Indian English newspaper being the most read

newspaper in the country, most of the companies highlighting their services and products

for the citizens, targets these newspapers for the showcase of their services. Newspapers

act as the ideal method of public relations due to it’s strength as the best way of

communication.

The 2010 Indian Readership Survey findings shows that the largest read local language

newspapers to be Dainik Jagran (with 16.429 million readers) and Dainik Bhaskar (with

14.448 million readers), both published in Hindi. The Times of India is the most widely

read English language newspaper ( 4.900 million), followed by Hindustan Times (3.9

million), Eenadu (1.7 million), The Sakshi (1.45 million). The New Indian Express is

another widely-read English language newspaper (1.8 million). Malayala

Manorama newspaper which is published in Malayalam from , currently has a readership

of over 9.9 million (with a circulation base of over 2 million copies) has the most

circulation in other languages.

With a combined daily circulation of 2.25 million copies and a readership base of 14.49

million readers, Hindustan (English) and Hindustan (Hindi) enjoy strong brand

recognition among readers and advertisers, and are produced by an editorial team known

for its quality, innovation and integrity. 

HT Media operates 17 printing facilities across India with an installed capacity of 1.5

million copies per hour. HT’s internet business, under the HindustanTimes.com portal, is

primarily a news website with 2 million unique visitors and 100 million page views per

month, with a significant share of the traffic coming from outside India. 

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 As part of its expansion into electronic media, HT Media, through its subsidiary HT

Music and Entertainment Company Ltd., has entered the FM radio market in key Indian

cities through a consulting partnership with Virgin Radio. The channel, Fever 104, is one

of the most vibrant on the airwaves and is currently available in Delhi and Mumbai. 

 LIST OF NEWSPAPERS IN INDIA BY READERSHIP

This is a list of the newspapers in India by readership in the three-month period ended

June 30, 2012. These figures are compiled by Media Research Users Council in the Indian

Readership Survey (IRS) 2012 Q2. All figures are in millions. This data is based on

sample survey and is modelled on internationally accepted annual sample spread. The IRS

is the largest continuous readership research study in the world with an annual sample size

exceeding 2.56 lakh respondents

Newspaper Language City

Readership Owner

1Jagran

HindiVarious cities and

states16.42

Owned by Jagaran

Prakashan Ltd.

2

Dainik

Bhaskar HindiVarious cities and

states14.448 Owned by D B Corp Ltd.

3Hindustan

HindiVarious cities and

states12.205

Owned by Hindustan

Media Ventures Ltd.

which is owned by HT

Media Ltd

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Malayala

Manorama

മലയാ�ള

മനോ��രമ

Malayalam

10 cities in Kerala,

Bangalore,

Mangalore, Chennai,

Mumbai, Delhi,

Dubai, and Bahrain

9.710Owned by Malayalam

Manorama Group

5 Amar Ujala Hindi Various cities and 8.608 Owned by Amar Ujala 7

Newspaper Language City

Readership Owner

states Publications Ltd.

6 Times of India EnglishVarious cities and

states7.643

Owned by Bennett,

Coleman and Co. Ltd.

7 Lokmat MarathiVarious cities of

Maharashtra and Goa7.507

Owned by Lokmat

Media Limited

8Daily Thanthi

Tamil

Various cities in

Tamil Nadu and a

few other cities

7.431Founded by S. P.

Adithanar

9Rajasthan

PatrikaHindi

Various cities and

states6.756

Owned by Rajasthan

Patrika Pvt. Ltd.

10Mathrubhumi

മ�തൃഭൂ�മ Malayalam

10 Cities in Kerala,

Chennai, Bangalore,

Mumbai, and New

Delhi

6.493Owned by The

Mathrubhumi Group

11 Eenadu TeluguVarious cities and

states5.925

Founded in 1974, owned

by Ramoji Group

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Ananda Bazar

Patrika

আনন্দবা�জা�র

পত্রিকা�

Bengali

Various cities in West

Bengal, Delhi and

Mumbai

5.859Owned by Ananda

Publishers

13 Sakshi TeluguVarious cities and

states5.306

Owned by Jagathi

Publications

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Gujarat

Samachar Gujarati Ahmedabad, Gujarat 5.205Owned by Lok

Prakashan Ltd.

15Dinakaran

Tamil

Various cities in

Tamil Nadu and a

few other cities

4.999Bought out by SUN TV

group in 2005

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Newspaper Language City

Readership Owner

16Daily Sakal

MarathiVarious cities in

Maharashtra4.437

Owned by Sakal Media

Group

17Hindustan

TimesEnglish

Various cities and

states3.767

Owned by HT Media

Ltd

18Punjab Kesari

HindiStates of Punjab,

Haryana3.347

Owned by Punjab Kesari

Group

19Prabhat

KhabarHindi

States of Jharkhand,

Bihar, West Bengal

and Orissa

2.621

Owned by NPHL

(Neutral Publishing

House Ltd.)

20Navbharat

TimesHindi

Various cities and

states2.584

Owned by Bennett,

Coleman and Co. Ltd.

21 The Hindu EnglishVarious cities and

states2.208

Owned by Kasturi &

Sons Ltd.

22 Patrika Hindi Various cities 2.072

23Nai Dunia

Hindi

Various cities and

states of Madhya

Pradesh and

Chhattisgarh

1.569

Owned by NaiDunia

Media Ltd. which is

owned by Jagaran

Prakashan Ltd.

24 The Telegraph EnglishVarious cities and

states1.275

Owned by Ananda

Publishers

25Deccan

ChronicleEnglish Various cities 1.038

Owned by Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Ltd.

26 DNA EnglishVarious cities and

states0.930

Owned by Diligent

Media Corporation

which is a joint venture

between D B Corp Ltd.

(Dainik Bhaskar group)

and Essel Group.

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Newspaper Language City

Readership Owner

27Mumbai

MirrorEnglish

Various cities and

states0.795

Owned by Bennett,

Coleman and Co. Ltd.

28Economic

TimesEnglish

Various cities and

states0.789

Owned by Bennett,

Coleman and Co. Ltd.

29The New

Indian ExpressEnglish

Various cities and

states0.667

Owned by Express

Publications Ltd.

30 The Tribune EnglishVarious cities and

states0.640 Owned by Tribune Trust

 HT Circulation

 Based on the readership survey of 14.49 million readers, HT has a combined circulation

of 2.25 million copies everyday including Hindustan Times (English) and Hindustan

(Hindi). Due to huge circulation, HT enjoys strong brand recognition among readers and

advertisers as well.

Columnists of Hindustan Times

Vir Sanghvi : Vir Sanghvi is an editorial advisor for Hindustan Times. He writes a

column 'Rude Food' for 'Brunch', a weekly magazine.

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Karan Thapar : Currently the president of Infotainment Television and one of India's

noted television commentators and interviewers, Karan Thapar writes the weekly

column "Sunday Sentiments".

Manas Chakravarty: Capital market analyst for Mint. Writes weekly column "Loose

Canon" on Sundays'.

Poonam Saxena : She is the editor of Brunch, the Hindustan Times Sunday magazine.

She does a weekly TV review column, "Small Screen".

Indrajit Hazra: A novelist and a senior editor at Hindustan Times, Hazra writes the

weekly column "Red Herring".

Sonal Kalra : An author and editor of HT City, the daily entertainment and lifestyle

supplement of Hindustan Times, Writes the weekly column "A Calmer You".

Khushwant Singh : An editorial writer whose column "With Malice towards One and

All" appears in the Saturday edition.

Barkha Dutt : Journalist and NDTV Group editor. Writes a fortnightly column.

Samar Halarnkar : Editor-at-large, writes on a variety of issues and also runs a food

blog on the Hindustan Times website.

Ownership of Hindustan Times

Owned by HT Media Ltd., Hindustan Times is part of the India's famous KK Birla group

and currently managed by Shobhana Bhartia, granddaughter of GD Birla. At present the

KK Birla group owns 69 per cent stake in HT Media Ltd, currently valued at Rs 834 crore.

Shobana Bhartia joined Hindustan Times in the year 1986. At the time of joining HT, she

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was the first woman chief executive of a national newspaper.

Commenting on the performance for Q4 and FY2012, Chairperson and Editorial Director,

HT Media, Mrs. Shobhana Bhartia says ,

HT Media’s performance is the result of a product investment strategy that has helped

strengthen brand equity and salience. We have further consolidated our position in the

print business by expanding our reach across geographies in English, business and Hindi

dailies, which is borne out by the latest India Readership Survey findings. In addition, our

radio and digital businesses continue to perform according to plans and gain traction.

The company’s focused strategic approach and strong business model will allow it to

successfully navigate these tough times.

Vision and Values of HT Media

VALUES

HT Media – A rich heritage to live up to! Organizational values are the foundation stones

on which the organization’s image is built. These help the company realize its

organizational goals and in turn transform lives. These values are intended to infuse an

infectious energy, professionalism and a sense of true empowerment to the workplace.

The solid edifice on which HT Media stands tall today was built on high ideals and values.

The company has its roots in the independence movement in the first half of the twentieth

century, a cause to empower the nation. We are adaptive to the changing times, while re -

maining steadfast to the values rooted in our culture.

Our values drive us towards our goals of expansion, diversification and excellence. These

values define our philosophy of operations, guide our important decisions and determine

our commitment and achievement.

THE VALUES PERSONIFIED BY HT MEDIA ARE:

Courage

To encourage the ability that meets opposition with skill, competence and fortitude.

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Responsibility

Be accountable for results in line with the company’s objectives, strategies and values.

Empowerment

Support our people and give them the freedom to perform and to provide our readers with

information to influence their environment.

Continuous Self Renewal

Determination to constantly re-examine and re-invent ourselves for further innovation and

creativity.

People Centric

People are our greatest asset. We invest in them expect a lot and know that the rest will

follow

VISION

HT Media strives to be a visionary organization and not an organization with a vision. In

our endeavor to have a shared understanding, alignment and commitment, we have

derived our company’s vision that sets the course and empowers people to take action.

“YOU ARE EMPOWERED “

Businesses are in:

Publications, Finance, Music, Retailing, Media, Radio, Internet products, Events,

Charitable Trusts, Education

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HT MEDIA

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CORPORATE PROFILE

Board of directors

A rich mix of veterans in media and top leaders from non-media sectors, from both India

and abroad, HT Media’s Management team reflects the company's desire to be the best by

leveraging diverse strengths. The management team comprises people from varied

verticals such as media, FMCG, telecom, automobiles, each of whom add fresh

perspective to the rich experience of media industry stalwarts. This rich talent pool is ably

assisted by Global Think Tank.

Dr K K Birla

  Chairman

is a renowned industrialist and has a career spanning more than six decades as a business

leader. Dr Birla has established one of India's well-known business conglomerates,

spanning a wide spectrum of key industries like sugar, fertilizers, chemicals, heavy

engineering, textiles, shipping and media. He has a Bachelors of Arts (Hons) in Hindi and

holds a Honoris Causa Doctorate in Literature. He has been educated at Calcutta

University, Delhi University and Punjab University. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha,

the Upper House of the Indian Parliament from April 1984 until March 2002. Dr Birla has

been a member of a number of consultative committees of the Government of India. He

has headed Chambers of Commerce such as Indian Sugar Mills Association, Federation of

Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Indian Chamber of Commerce and many

other prominent organisations. Dr Birla joined our Board of Directors in August 2003.

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Shobhana Bhartia

Chairperson

Mrs. Shobhana Bhartia, who has been associated with the company since its incep-

tion, has taken over as the Chairperson on September 18, 2008. She has

spearheaded the company's long-term vision and strategy. Mrs. Bhartia is in charge

of formulating and directing the editorial policies of the company and has more

than 25 years of experience in the newspaper industry.

Mrs. Bhartia is a graduate from Calcutta University and is a recipient of the Padma

Shri Award by the Government of India in 2005. Mrs. Bhartia has received several

other awards, including the Outstanding Business Woman of the Year(2001) by

PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Global Leader for Tomorrow(1996)

by the World Economic Forum, Davos and the National Press India Award(1992).

She has been on the board of Indian Airlines Limited and on the North Regional

Board of the Reserve Bank of India.

Roger Greville

Director

Mr. Roger Greville has a Masters of Commerce degree in Economics from the

University of Auckland. A citizen of both New Zealand and the United Kingdom,

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he has been the Managing Director of Henderson Equity Partners Ltd - a private

equity operation of Henderson Global Investors - since 1998, and is a member of

Henderson Global Investors' senior management team. Mr Greville has over 20

years of investment and management experience covering both listed and unlisted

markets.

K N Memani

Director

Mr. Memani, a qualified Chartered Accountant, holds a Bachelors degree in Com-

merce from Calcutta University. He retired as the Chairman and Country

Managing Partner of Ernst & Young, India. He specialises in business/corporate

advisory and financial consultancy. Mr Memani has been the Chairman of the

External Audit Committee of the International Monetary Fund. He is also a

member of the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards, a statutory

authority for specifying mandatory accounting standards. Mr Memani joined the

Board of Directors in May 2004.

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Y C Deveshwar

Director

Mr. Deveshwar has a career spanning 36 years, with experience across general

management, strategic management and business leadership. He graduated from

the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, with a B.Tech degree and joined ITC

Limited, a public listed company in India, in 1968 as a management trainee. He

joined the board of directors of ITC Limited in 1984 and has led various businesses

of ITC Limited besides leading Air India as Chairman and Managing Director

from 1991 to 1994. Mr Deveshwar is a recipient of various awards and

recognitions, including the Manager Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2001, by

Ernst & Young. He is currently the Chairman of ITC Limited. He has also been the

president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Mr Deveshwar joined the

Board of Directors of HT Media in May 2004.

N K Singh

Director

Mr. Singh is a noted economist and retired bureaucrat. Mr Singh has a Masters of

Arts degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics. He joined the

Indian Administrative Service in 1964 and has held a number of important

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positions with the Government of India, including Expenditure Secretary, Revenue

Secretary and later Secretary to the Prime Minister of India. He was also a member

of the Planning Commission. Presently, Mr Singh is a member of the United

Nations Global Commission on International Migration, a Senior Short Terms

Visiting Fellow, University of Stanford and Chairman of the Management

Development Institute, India. Mr Singh joined the Board of Directors of HT Media

in December 2004.

Ajay Relan

Director

Mr Ajay Relan, one of the founding Directors of CX Advisors Private Limited,

which provides investment advisory services to Private Equity firms, has over

twenty-five years of corporate and investment banking experience in India, Saudi

Arabia, Tunisia and Switzerland. Prior to co-founding the Indian Sub-Advisor, Mr.

Relan was the head of CVCI in India, a position that he held since the inception of

that business in India in 1995. Prior to this, Mr. Relan worked with several

financial firms in multiple geographies, starting with Citi in 1976 and the last being

the CEO of a Citi-affiliated brokerage firm, Citicorp Securities & Investments Ltd.

Mr. Relan has served on the boards of several CVCI portfolio companies, such as

Suzlon, HT Media, Yes Bank, i-FLEX and Progeon, among others. Mr. Relan

earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of

Management, Ahmedabad and a B.A. in Economics from St. Stephen's College,

Delhi University where he was top ranked in the University.

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Priyavrat Bhartia

Whole-time Director

Mr. Priyavrat Bhartia is a whole-time Director. He started as a financial analyst

with Wasserstein Perella & Co., New York, in 1998. With a Masters degree in

Business Administration from Stanford University (USA), Mr. Bhartia is also a

director with a number of companies including Birla Cotton Spinning and Weaving

Mills Ltd, Jubilant Enpro Pvt. Ltd, HT Burda Media Limited and Firefly e-

Ventures Limited.

Shamit Bhartia

Whole-time Director

Mr. Shamit Bhartia is a whole-time Director. He holds a degree in Economics from

Dartmouth College, USA. He has worked in the Corporate Finance and M&A

Group, Lazard Frere, New York, from July 2001 till August 2002. Mr Bhartia has

been associated with the company since its incorporation

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Rajiv Verma

Chief Executive Officer

Rajiv joined HT Media Ltd. as CEO in 2004. These 5 years have seen HT take

giant strides, be it growing the vernacular business with Hindustan, creating

national big brands – Mint, Fever 104, Shine.com, in addition to growing new

businesses like Events and Key Marketing Solutions, Ad for Equity, establishing

international collaborations with Virgin Radio, Burda, Wall Street Journal, Red

Match and substantively increasing our print capacities across the country.

Rajiv brings with him over 24 years of cross-sectoral experience with companies

like Hindustan Lever, Nestle and Whirlpool. His international experience spans

South East Asia and Europe. Rajiv is a Mechanical Engineer from Delhi College of

Engineering.

Rajiv is also a member of the Kellog alumni advisory board of North Western

University.

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Supplements of Hindustan Times

HT Brunch: HT Brunch is a 28 page magazine containing stories and snippets

from lifestyle to travel. It comes every Sunday. The readers of HT wake up to

Brunch every Sunday morning, which is one of best-loved offerings from its

stable. In a magazine format and clearly about ‘the good life’, it covers stories

around food, fashion, shopping, travel, health & wellness, books & movie reviews,

celebrity talk, lifestyle etc. One of the biggest draws of Brunch is the bouquet of

columns by prominent journalists like Vir Sanghvi (food & travel), Sanjoy

Narayan (music) and Rajiv Makhni (technology). This universally appealing brand

has the core target group vested in upwardly mobile young families, looking for

enhancing their lifestyle quotient.

HT Power jobs : This supplement is dedicated to careers with information on

everything from job listings to career counseling. It comes every Tuesday.

HT Premiere : HT Premiere comes every Thursday containing items on

entertainment covering Hollywood and Bollywood.

HT Horizon : A career related supplement, HT Horizon comes every Wednesday.

HT City and HT Cafe: The entertainment & lifestyle supplement, every day. The

Hindustan Times reader wakes up to a bundle of fun, frolic, entertainment and

masala everyday called HT City (in Delhi) and HT Café (in Mumbai). One of the

strongest drivers of readership, the daily entertainment supplement enjoys almost

universal salience and readership. The buzzy daily supplement has redefined

lifestyle and entertainment space in newspapers, packing a punch with daily dose

of Bollywood, Hollywood, Fashion, Relationship, City and Campus. The

supplement offers an array of daily sections catering to different tastes - health & 23

wellness, gadgets, travel, motoring and food. One of the biggest draws of the

supplement is the Weekend Planner on Fridays that the young people of Delhi &

Mumbai refer to as a guide to living it up in the city.

HT Education: Education Supplement, every Wednesday (earlier known as HT

Horizons). HT Education offers the much needed guidance and mentorship to the

students, which really helps them in choosing the best in education leading to a

great career. HT Education is a supplement dedicated to serving the needs of not

only student community from 10th to post graduates, but also the parents who are

concerned about their child’s future. The supplement is a source of comprehensive

info around – career options, admission and scholarship information, college

profiles, guidance and expert counseling. It’s a one-stop guide to the students to

prepare for their most exciting phase in life.

HT Estates : Estates contains real estate and property related features and cirulated

on Saturdays. It is a Real Estate supplement, every Saturday. HT Estates as a

supplement partners and corroborates the readers with information that helps them

buy or sell their properties. This supplement comes with the newspaper every

Saturday. The supplement offers countless options on property buying and selling.

Along with that the supplement also enlightens both the buyers and sellers on legal

aspects of realty transactions. Specifically for buyers the supplement offers array

of information on realty trends, loan rates, etc.

Shine Jobs : Career supplement, every Tuesday. Shine Jobs, with its unique

relationship with Shine.com, is the only print career supplement which offers both

online and print recruitment under one umbrella and one brand. This gives

candidates and employers the opportunity to effectively reach each other across

both platforms. Shine Jobs was re-launched with a brand new look and promise of

hundreds of jobs for its readers. It now carries numerous jobs from top companies

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in the country, along with the best jobs available on Shine.com, across managerial

levels, industries and cities. It also offers valuable information on overall career

development, interview tips, HR trends, hot hiring sectors and many more useful

career-related topics. Shine Jobs is a must-read for all those on the look-out for the

next best career opportunity.

HT Live : A ‘peek around the corner’ is what Live offers to its readers - a

supplement that caters to the readers’ quest for local news. This supplement has

dedicated 8 editions for 8 zones in Delhi and appears once a week in every zone.

The supplement highlights the hits and misses on infrastructural development and

lifestyle centered around neighbourhoods. It offers a bag full of interesting local

news and local advertising which helps readers get immediate assistance on their

requirements.

HT Mumbai Edition : Launched on 14th July 2005, HT Mumbai is one of the

leading newspapers of the city. The Mumbai HT is managed by Mohit Ahuja, an

alumnus of NMIMS, Mumbai. HT Mumbai comprises of 22 - 24 pages and carries

other supplements everyday. The Mumbai edition carries a lifestyle supplement

called HT Cafe (32 pages in tabloid format). Circulated six days a week, HT Cafe

devotes 8 pages to subjects like automobiles, travel, health, comics, gizmos and

weekend. On Wednesdays, HT Mumbai has an education supplement called HT

Horizons. HT Mumbai also carries high-life and luxury supplement called Splurge

and a Real Estates section called HT Estates once in a week. On Sundays, the

paper comes with a free magazine called Brunch.

 HT Delhi Edition : Delhi's leading newspaper, HT Delhi Edition usually contains

22 - 24 pages main newspaper including a daily lifestyle called HT City and other

supplements on weekdays. On Fridays a special Weekend edition of HT City is

circulated called

25

HT City WE. On Tuesday HT Delhi carries a jobs supplement called 'Power Jobs'

and an education supplement on Wednesdays. Real Estates section called HT

Estates and Luxury supplement called HT Splurge are circulated on Saturdays.

Every Sunday HT Delhi carries a special magazine called Brunch, which carries

articles on lifestyle, entertainment, food, travel, fashion, health etc. 

HT Lucknow, Patna and Chandigarh Editions : Lucknow, Patna and Chandigarh

Editions of HT contain only the main newspaper carrying only one or two

supplements weekly. On Sundays, these editions have a special four to eight pages

Sunday Magazine. All these editions focusses more on state based news and

happenings. 

HT Sister Publications

26

Mint- An English Business Daily 

Hindustan - A Hindi Daily published from Delhi, Lucknow and Patna.

Nandan - Monthly Children's magazine

Kadambani - Monthly literary magazine 

Hindustan is the third largest Hindi daily with a near monopoly position in Bihar and

Jharkhand. A strong player in Delhi, it is rapidly expanding its presence in UP and

Uttaranchal. It has editions in Delhi, Patna, Ranchi, Varanasi and Lucknow, Kanpur,

Meerut and Agra. Hindustan Times (HT) is the number two player in terms of circulation

of English dailies in India, after Times Of India (TOI).

The Hindi daily

Bihar and Jharkhand: Hindustan rules the Bihar and Jharkhand markets with huge

readership difference with the nearest competitor. The readership base of the newspaper in

both the markets has been on an uptrend. In spite of competition from Dainik Jagran and

Prabhat Khabar, Hindustan has been able to comfortably maintain its leadership. At the

last count, the Hindustan had 24 editions in Bihar alone, with a market share of 75% of the

Hindi daily market.

Uttar Pradesh: Hindustan is expanding rapidly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is the

largest Hindi newspaper market. Three new editions have been launched (in Meerut, Agra,

and Kanpur) in 2006, giving a further boost to its growth and reach within the state.

27

Delhi: It is the 3rd most widely read Hindi daily in Delhi, having a readership base of

around 40% of NavBharat Times, which is the leader. The Delhi market is highly

competitive with players like Jagran Prakashan and Punjab Kesari.

In FY07, Hindustan contributed about 50% to HTML's circulation revenues. Hindustan,

on an average, has an ad-edit ratio of 40:60. The company plans to spend Rs 2 bn from

internal accruals over two years to set up 10 printing presses and launch editions in Uttar

Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Madhya Pradesh years to exploit rising corporate advertising

spend across northern India. Although Hindustan is present in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar

Pradesh and Delhi, it has addresses only 40% to 45% of the Hindi belt. With entry in the

new regions it will be able to cater to 60% to 70% of the market. For Hindustan, we expect

a broader reach in the Hindi readership belt to drive growth. Further, the regions where it

is present, the average readership is in the range of 15% to 18% as compared to the

national average of 20%, which leaves enough headroom for growth. The company is also

planning to separate the Hindi business into a different entity in order to concentrate more

on this segment and garner more revenues.

The English daily

Delhi: The Delhi edition accounts for the bulk of its ad revenues. The uno position keeps

rotating altering between HT and TOI. Delhi is a matured market and HT enjoys brand

loyalty. Earlier, when TOI entered Delhi, highly competitive price war was witnessed. The

competition between HT and TOI in the Delhi market has become rational after HT's entry

in Mumbai. The two share each other's printing resources. Both have recently joined hands

for publishing a new newspaper in Delhi in order to combat the threat from new

competitors

Mumbai: In order to become a relevant

player, HTML made a foray into Mumbai,

which is the largest ad market. Mumbai and

Delhi together account for 40% of the ad

revenues. The Mumbai print market is

estimated to be around Rs 15 bn in market

size and the leader Times of India has around Rs 7.5 to Rs 8 bn of the market. HTML

28

along with DNA forayed into the Mumbai territory where TOI had had a virtual

monopoly. This led to a price war and introduction of free editions. With the entry of HT

in Mumbai, its target market expanded. Also, with the presence in Mumbai, there has been

a rub-off effect in Delhi, leading to higher advertisement grip. HT Media has been

successful in garnering higher circulation and readership. As per IRS 2007, R1, HT

touched the readership base of 320,000 in the first two years of its launch. Though

currently it is the 3rd largest paper in Mumbai, its ad revenues witnessed a 50% growth

over the last 2 years.

Also HT Media has an advantage over DNA, as it is able to bundle its advertisements with

its basket of offerings. Its pan India presence also would be able to command higher rates.

We expect the Mumbai editions to breakeven in coming few quarters and narrow its

subscription gap with DNA.

Mint: The company entered into the financial news daily segment in association with The

Wall Street Journal under the brand name Mint. Currently, only 0.4% of the country's

population reads business papers of any kind. The business daily segment is estimated to

account for 8% of the total dailes market. Economic Times is the market leader with

nearly 65% of the share. A huge gap existed between ET and the second player. Eyeing

this huge opportunity, Mint was launched last year in Delhi and Mumbai and has laready

become the 2nd largest player with circulation of over 120,000 copies in these markets. It

has an ad: edit ratio of about 15: 85 and enjoys a premium in ad rates over Economic

Times on the CPT (cost per thousand) basis. In November 2007, it launched the Bangalore

edition of Mint, which already crossed 15,000, and the edition is strongly leveraging the

business publication's national presence to draw quality advertisements. The management

has planned to publish Mint in the top 10 cities of India in the coming few years. Though

currently it is loss making, it is expected to break even in the coming 20 to 24 months.

Tabloid: Competition in this segment was growing. After the battle between Mid Day and

Mumbai Mirror in Mumbai, Delhi was the likely next target. Sensing competition from

India Today Group's Delhi Today and Mid Day Multimedia's Delhi Mid Day, HT Media

and BCCL Group started a tabloid under the brand ‘Metro'. A '50:50 JV it is aimed to

target the metro commuters in Delhi. The plan is to initially target a readership of 0.1 m to

29

begin with. It faces competition from Today, brought out by Living Media, publishers of

India Today, and Mid-Day. Both have a relatively small circulation in Delhi.

 (HT) is one the leading newspapers in India. It is distributed widely across the country

with numerous readers.The daily has been published and well received in many regional

parts of indianite and is one of the most circulated newspapers in India. It is because of the

authenticity of the news. It is one of the market toppers in north India. The newspaper has

been working since the Indian independence movement. Hindustan Times has reached

nook and corner of India. Leadership through quality and innovation is the main success

element of the Hindustan Times Limited. The paper has editions from New Delhi,

Mumbai, Lucknow and Kolkata.It is also printed from Bhopal, Jaipur and Ranchi. HT has

also come up with India's first youth daily called as HT Next. However, the print location

of Jaipur HT was discontinued with unknown reasons.Recently HT has launched a

national business newspaper called Mint. Over seven decades the organization has been a

major force in the print media.

The Hindustan Times Ltd. plans to consolidate itself as a vibrant and modern media

powerhouse through strategic partnerships,ever-increasing scope of operations and a

consumer focused approach.

Hindustan Times - circulation

News paper City of Publication Area Covered

State City/District

Hindustan

Times Bhopal Madhya Pradesh Bhopal

Chandigarh Chandigarh Chandigarh

Delhi Chhattisgarh Bilaspur

Durg

Raipur

30

Delhi Delhi

Haryana Ambala

Bhiwani

Bhiwani

Faridabad

Gurgaon

Hisar

Jhajjar

Jind

Kaithal

Karnal

Kurukshetra

Panchkula

Panipat

Rewari

Rohtak

Sonipat

Yamunanagar

Himachal Pradesh Hamirpur

Kangra

Mandi

Shimla

Sirmaur

Solan

Una

Jammu & Kashmir Jammu

Madhya Pradesh Bhopal

31

Dewas

Gwalior

Hoshangabad

Indore

Jabalpur

Sagar

Ujjain

Vidisha

Maharashtra Mumbai

Nagpur

Punjab Amritsar

Bathinda

Faridkot

Fatehgarh Sahib

Gurdaspur

Hoshiarpur

Jalandhar

Kapurthala

Ludhiana

Mansa

Moga

Muktsar

Patiala

Rupnagar

Sangrur

Rajasthan Ajmer

Alwar

32

Bikaner

Jaipur

Jodhpur

Kota

Uttar Pradesh Agra

Aligarh

Bareilly

Bulandshahr

Ghaziabad

Jhansi

Kanpur

Lucknow

Mathura

Meerut

Moradabad

Muzaffarnagar

Rampur

Saharanpur

Uttaranchal Dehradun

Hardwar

Nainital

Jaipur Rajasthan Jaipur

Kolkata West Bengal Kolkata

Lucknow Uttar Pradesh Allahabad

Gorakhpur

Kanpur

Lucknow

33

Rae Bareli

Varanasi

Mumbai Maharashtra Mumbai

Patna Bihar Begusarai

Bhagalpur

Bhojpur

Darbhanga

Gaya

Munger

Muzaffarpur

Pashchim Champaran

Patna

Purba Champaran

Purnia

Saran

Vaishali

Ranchi Jharkhand Bokaro

Dhanbad

Hazaribagh

Palamu

Purbi Singhbhum

Ranchi

Orissa Sundargarh

34

The Indian Readership Survey ( IRS ) 2012 revealed that HT has a readership of (37.67

lakhs), placing it as the second most widely read English newspaper in India after The TOI

hasawidereachinnorthern India,wisimultaneouseditionsfromNewDelhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, 

Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Bhopal and Chandigarh. The print location of Jaipur was

discontinued from June 2006. HT launched a youth daily, HT Next, in 2004. The Mumbai

edition was launched on 14 July 2005 and the Kolkata edition was launched on early 2000.

Other sister publications of Hindustan Times are Mint (English business

daily), Hindustan (Hindi Daily), Nandan (monthly children's magazine)

andKadambani (monthly literary magazine). It has consistently been ranked amongst the

top 10 news sites in the world by Forbes and offers in-depth coverage and analyses to its

users.

As part of its expansion into electronic media, HT Media, through its subsidiary HT Music

and Entertainment Company Ltd., has entered the FM radio market in key Indian cities

through a consulting partnership with Virgin Radio.

HT Media launched a national business newspaper – MINT, in February 2007 – with an

exclusive agreement with Wall Street Journal to publish Journal-branded news and

information in India.

As part of its aggressive growth strategy and endeavors to build a robust Internet business,

HT Media has launched Firefly e-ventures, recognizing the importance of Internet as the

most important media vehicle of the future. Recently Firefly has acquired a social

networking site – Desimartini.com, and runs Shine.com– for jobseekers and employers.

The registrations on Shine.com have crossed 7 million. Firefly also launched an education

portal, HTCampus.com, the target audience being students graduating from schools and

colleges to help them with their decisions regarding higher education.

The group's news portal Hindustantimes.com, with over 10 million unique visitors and 100

million page views per month, is one of the largest news portals in the country. It has

consistently been ranked amongst the top 10 news sites in the world by Forbes and offers

in-depth coverage and analysis to its users.

The business news website, livemint.com covers business and related news in India as

well as across the world. livemint.com is the integrated offering with Mint. It combines the

editorial strength of Mint with a best-in-class web interface and a selection of online tools

35

that aid the users to stay abreast with the developments in the business world as well as

help them with investments.

As part of its expansion into electronic media, HT Media, in consulting partnership with

Virgin Radio, entered the FM radio market in key Indian cities with its channelFever 104,

which has grown to become the No. 2 channel in Delhi in a span of just two years.

The groups business - "Strategic Partnerships" - is dedicated to cater to the advertising

needs of growth companies by providing them a cashless form of advertising and building

up their brands thereby enhancing the value of the business. This division identifies

growth companies and enters into strategic partnerships with them. The overall objective

is to create a strategic platform wherein different companies can come together and benefit

with the synergies of partnering with each other.

and has launched its first portal - www.shine.com – to establish its presence in the internet

space

36

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Focus is on strengthening position as a leading player in the media business and

increase shareholder value by enhancing the leadership status, capabilities, national

footprint and quality of products, thus creating a more attractive offering for

customers. Long-term growth strategy is to leverage upon existing strengths to

emerge as a cross-media company with a dominant position across all businesses

and markets

after carefully evaluating the opportunities and threats inherent to the business.

Improving leadership positions across markets in traditional strongholds like Delhi,

Bihar and Jharkhand the company seeks to optimize readership mix and

demographic reach to continue to attract high-quality advertisers. Towards that end,

they are investing in continuous product quality improvements and creating value

for advertisers by expanding their reach to emerging market segments. In newer

markets like Mumbai, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the company aims to continually

increase the market share and convert rising readership into higher advertising

revenues. Their efforts have been yielding results, with the latest IRS and NRS

surveys showing “Hindustan Times” consolidating its lead over its nearest

competitors in key markets of Delhi and Chandigarh and “Hindustan” consolidating

its lead in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Expanding and leveraging our national footprint a multi-city national presence is a

key success factor for players in the Indian newspaper industry, as advertisers prefer

the convenience of reaching out to a broad audience through a single platform. This

takes on added importance because in India, advertising revenues are the key drivers

of profitability for newspaper companies. The company already enjoys a lead in that

regard over others due to their existing presence in Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar

Pradesh and Punjab. They penetrated the Mumbai market and were able to achieve a

sizeable circulation there in line with their plans, in less than a year since launch and

had a strong operating performance in FY2006, driven primarily by their entry into

Mumbai, which resulted in higher overall revenues and earnings, demonstrates the

efficacy of their growth strategy and their ability to execute it successfully. It is their

intent to further enhance their geographic footprint in the future in a well evaluated

and considered manner. Their focus on augmenting their footprint also includes the

Hindi market, where they already are a strong player. They believe that the Hindi 37

print market, with a 25% share of the national print advertising spend, offers

substantial opportunities – especially for a player like them which is already a player

of significant size and scale in the Hindi market. They intend to aggressively look

for avenues to expand the footprint of “Hindustan”, especially in high growth

regions and locations that are synergestic with their existing editions.They are also

increasing their marketing efforts in their existing markets to capture further

advertising revenue for their editions

of “Hindustan”.

Improving their customer focus Indian newspaper readers, both in the English and

Hindi segments, are very discerning and demand high quality products in terms of

both content and layout. Advertisers too prefer more efficient and cost-effective

solutions for their requirements. Their in-depth understanding of the market and

customer mindset, accumulated over the years through their long standing presence

in the industry, has enabled to identify evolving customer preferences and quickly

adapt to such changes. They also attempt to proactively make enhancements and

modifications in their offerings that create a longer term affinity among customers

for their products and services. They consider such customer focus to be an

important asset for them and strive to improve their customer focus across their

entire organization. Towards that end, they are leveraging technology to provide

their advertising clients with a more customer-friendly service interface and a

tailored product offering. For their readers, they are focusing their research efforts

and their product development initiatives on better addressing their changing tastes.

In addition to that, they are also imparting training to their staff to improve customer

service orientation across all business functions.

October 02, 2012 : Hindustan Times was declared the No. 1 English language daily in

Delhi for the 10th time in a row, according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS)

released by the Media Research Users’ Council .

38

FY2012 Performance Overview

(All comparisons with FY2011) 

Total revenues up 15 % at Rs. 20,780 million from Rs. 18,102 million:

    • 11% growth in advertisement revenues of print segment to Rs. 15,358 million from

Rs. 13,888 million

    • 8% increase in circulation revenues to Rs. 1,977 million from Rs. 1,828 million

    • 6% increase in Radio Revenues to Rs 742 million from Rs 699 million

EBITDA declined to Rs. 3,619 million from Rs. 3,660 million; primarily driven by: 

    • 16% increase in cost of raw material to Rs. 7,257 million from Rs. 6,230 million due

to higher newsprint prices and higher circulation

    • 22% increase in other expenses to Rs 6,368 million from Rs 5,233 million

PAT declined by 9% to Rs. 1,655 million from Rs. 1,809 million 

EPS (annualized) stood at Rs. 7.04 Board recommends a dividend of 20%

The Hindustan Times (HT) has a new look. "it's younger, more vibrant and more

contemporary. HT has always reflected the concerns and interests of its readers. To make

the paper even more relevant to their needs, the publisher has revamped the news

package." "The business page is now more corporate and more global. The new Weather

Report in the city section is as much for the busy executive as for those who are not

frequent flyer.For readers to turn straight to the Sport pages after page one, their favorite

section now is an easy-to-access slot in the middle of the paper. For the young sports fans,

HT has a new cricket tutorial by the legendary Geoff Boycott. And for the young at heart

there's a golf guide.Some of the changes will particularly please the busy readers who

want a quick news capsule over a cup of coffe. Watch out for the 2- Minute HT from

Monday to Friday.Sunday is the day when people want to read something more than just

news. So include yourself with Brunch - the new 28-page magazine. Brunch is the guide to

the good life, and as a definitive lifestyle magazine it's the only one of its kind in the

city.A new masthead is not the only change in HT city. It now offers more on lifestyle and

entertainment with a range of options for the five-to-nine life. And if that's not enough,

there is the HT Premiere, the new Thursday pullout on moviesand movie stars.The

publisher has used colour only where it helps to bring alive the mood of the story, whole

graphics give the reader the bigger picture."

39

Leadership through quality and innovation is the hallmark of The Hindustan Times Ltd.

The organisation has been a major force over seven decades in the print media. Hindustan

Times, the flagship publication of the Group, has editions from Delhi, Lucknow, Patna and

Kolkata thus, dominating the Northern, Eastern and Central regions of the country. The

newspaper is also printed out of 10 centres (incl. Bhopal, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bhagalpur,

Ranchi, Raipur...) Hindustan Times is the first smart-age newspaper in India to evolve into

a new international size sleeker and smarter, it ensures enhanced ease of reading and

convenient handling. The publication has completely redesigned its format with an all-new

masthead, sporting a contemporary international look.

40

Achievements and Projects

The Hindustan Times circulation was over 1.41 million in 2008.

The Readership Survey rated the Hindustan Times the second most extensively

read newspaper in 2010, with its 34.67 lakh readers spread throughout the country.

The Hindustan Times’ revenue reached INR 1,454 crore in the financial year

2010–11 .

The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2012 revealed that HT has a readership of

(37.67 lakhs), placing it as the second most widely read English newspaper in India

after The TOI The newspaper’s advertisement revenue has shown a modest growth

of 1%.

The newspaper’s radio vertical outscored others by posting a healthy revenue

growth of 52% taking the revenue to INR 43 crore. It is expected to improve

further in the near future.

With synchronized publications in all the major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Patna,

Ranchi, Bhopal and Chandigarh, the Hindustan Times has high prospects of further

progressing with no chances of a slowdown. A comprehensive news website,

Hindustantimes.com builds on the stories carried in the newspaper and is updated round

the clock with latest and breaking news stories along with exclusive coverage by its

editorial staff. It carries along the legacy of bringing to its readers credible, authentic and

unbiased content. It brings to its loyal and discerning audience, exclusive, high-calibre

content along with in-depth reportage that allows its surfers to follow a story in depth. The

site also provides sections written by popular columnists, along with in-depth web

exclusives on politics, business, new economy, entertainment, fashion and lifestyle apart

from interactive features like celebrity chats, business tools, discussion forums etc.

41

OBJECTIVES OF HINDUSTAN TIMES-:

1. To strengthen their position as One of the India’s Print Media Companies.

2. To grow a national footprint to complement their national brand.

3. Leveraging Strong newspaper business as a foundation for growth to other

sectors.

4. Expanding their reach to untapped market segments.

5. To Improve customer focus around their business.

6. To Focus on research and product development on better addressing their

changing tastes.

7. Hindustan Times believes in continuous improvement and providing greater

value to its readers and advertisers. It has set many a standards for its

competitors and will continue to do so in the years to come. It is the smart-age

newspaper in India to evolve into a new international size, sleeker and smarter,

which ensures enhanced ease of reading and convenient handling.

8. In its endeavor to provide its readers with greater value, it has revamped its

existing supplements and added new ones to its portfolio, offering a daily

supplement catering to specific target audiences. Supplements like HT Estates

(on real estate and interiors) are the first of their kind in their respective

categories. The enlarged operations and enhanced look have also paid off with a

substantial increase in circulation across the country.

9. In a major incentive for the advertisers as well as the readers, Hindustan Times

has entered into a strategic alliance with The Indian Express, Mid-Day and

Deccan Chronicle. These alliances, along with its strong presence in North India

make it one of the most formidable media players.

42

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 43

The primary objective of the study is to understand the growth pattern of

newspaper segment giving main consideration to newspaper segment of Hindustan

Times.

Some other objectives of the study are as follows:-

1. Research and analysis of the current customer base.

2. To attract the customers towards the product of the organization using various

promotional tools.

3. To analyze the customer satisfaction and problems

4. Analyzing the competition in the market & comparative analysis of different plans

of other media competitors with existing plans of Hindustan Times.

5. To know the market share of Hindustan Times in the market

6. To study the viewpoints of the customers regarding the news coverage provided by

Hindustan Times.

7. To know how many customers are attaching to company annually.

8. To study the responses of customers towards Hindustan Times newspaper

44

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY45

RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is simply a plan or framework for a study that is used in collecting and

analyzing the data. This framework is to ensure that relevant information is collected and

that too depending upon the objectives of the study.

The research design can be classified into three categories – Exploratory, descriptive, and

casual:

Exploratory Research

It seeks to discover new relationships, emphasis on discovery of ideas. This research is

used when very little is known about the problem being examined. Exploratory research

studies are also termed as formulative research studies as its main purpose is to formulate

a problem. Exploratory research is used here is flexible and the areas where this type of

research used are to know the:

Brand preference

Attitude of the customers

Market potential

Buyer's behavior

Consumer's awareness.

The purpose of this type of research is to gain insight into problem. The research design

used for the project at hand is of exploratory in nature. Exploratory research is always

based on small non-representative samples and data obtained are subjected to qualitative

analysis.

Exploratory research helps to gather information about practical problems in carrying out

the research and to provide insight into, and an understanding of, the problem confronting

the researcher.

Descriptive Research

It attempts to determine the frequency with something occurs or the relationship between

two phenomenon's. It is a type of conclusive research that has its major objective of

describing something like market characteristics or functions. Descriptive research gives a

clear statement of the problem, specifies hypothesis, and detailed information needs. It is

conducted for the for the reasons like to describe characteristics of relevant group are

associated and to make specific predictions, to estimate the percentage of units in a

specified population exhibiting a certain behavior, to determine the perceptions of product

46

characteristics, to determine the degree to which marketing variables. A descriptive design

requires a clear specification of who, what, when, where, why, and way of research.

Descriptive research used the following methods:-

Observation

Questionnaires

Interviews

Examination of records

Some of the examples are:

Market studies

Market share studies

Sales analysis studies

Image studies.

Causal Research

These designs often adopted in order to discover and determine the cause and effect

relationship. It is also experimental research as its major objective is to obtain evidence

regarding cause and effect relationship. It requires a planned and structured design. The

main method of experiment research is experimentation and hypotheses are specific.

Experimental research is useful in cases where variables are manipulated in a relatively

controlled environment.

Source of collecting data

Achieving accuracy in any research requires in depth study regarding the subject. As the

primary object is to study the market segmentation and strategies secondary objective of

the project is to compare Hindustan Times with the existing competitors in the market.

The research methodology adopted is basically based on primary data via which the most

recent and accurate piece of first hand information could be collected.

Primary Data

Primary data was collected using the following techniques.

Questionnaire Method, Direct Interview Method and Observation Method.

The main tool used was, the questionnaire method. Further direct interview method, where

a face to face formal interview was taken. Lastly observation method had been

continuously observes the surrounding environment he works in.

47

Procedure:

# Target geographic area was Meerut and surrounding areas.

# To these geographical area questionnaire was filled people. The questionnaire was a

combination of both open ended and closed ended questions.

# The date during which questionnaires were filled was between six weeks.

# Some dealers were also interviewed to know their perspective.

# Finally the collected data and information was analyzed and compiled to arrive at the

conclusion and recommendations given.

Secondary data

Secondary data has been used to support primary data wherever needed.

It is used to obtain information on Hindustan Times and its competitor history, current

issues, policies, procedures etc, wherever required.

Sources of Secondary Data

#Publication Of The Company #Publication Of The Company

#Periodical Of The Company#Periodical Of The Company

#By Internet Websites#By Internet Websites

# Magazines

# Newspapers etc.

48

Research Process

Defining the record and research objective.

Developing the research plan for collecting information implementing the research plan.

Collecting and analyzing data.

Interpreting and representing the findings.

49

TYPE OF RESEARCH

This is descriptive research as this research includes surveys and fact finding inquires of

different kinds. So descriptive research help in knowing about particular item or group of

items in other words it describes the state as it exist at present.

DATA COLLECTION

The data collected in this research is first hand so it is primary data. It is collected directly

from the respondent through questionnaire and through visualization.

DATA COLLECTON METHOD

The data was collected through research questionnaire method and through visualization

for franchise analysis. A questionnaire was framed then data collected by making it fill by

different respondent.

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

It is closed ended and open ended both types of questionnaire. If questionnaire is closed

ended then questions are in the form of 'Yes' or 'No' and if questionnaire is open ended

then questions are in the form of any numerical form.

SAMPLE TECHNIQUES

Sampling techniques used in judgment sampling. As the selection of sample was done

according to the researcher's own discretion and all effort were made to keep the research

objective.

DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

Analysis of data is done through quantitative method that is numerical figures expressed in

percentage.

DATA ANALYSIS INSTRUMENT

Instrument used for data analysis is tabulation of data, bar chart.

50

51

DATA ANALYSIS

Question No. 1

1) What are you doing?

(A)Student (B) Employee (C) Businessman (D) Other (please specify)....

TABLE NO. 1.1 Showing category of Respondents

Category Students Employees Businesspersons Others

% of categories of

-“Hindustan”s 35 30 15 20

studen

t

emplo

yees

busines

spe.

..

other

s0%

10%

20%

30%

40%35% 30%

15%20%

0%0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0

East West North

As per survey conducted

Study was focused on those individuals who read English NewsPaper.

According to above graph, students and other were major segments that consist of

approx. 65% of total ”Hindustan” readers

52

Question No. 2

2) Which news paper are you reading?

1) Amar Ujala 2) D.J. 3) Hindustan 4) The Hindu

5) TOI 6) I-next 7) HT 8) Other

TABLE NO.1.2 Showing different Newspapers:

GRAPH.NO. 1.2 Showing No. of readers of different newspapers

A.U.

D.J.

Hindust

an

The Hin

duTOI

0%

10%

20%

30%23% 25%

21%

8% 10%

East West North

Dainik jagran and Amar Ujala are the most circulated newspapers; approx 48% educated

individuals are reading those newspapers in Meerut.

These two newspapers are read by educated person, who know the Hindi very well,

so this is the big opportunity to extend the market and convince them to read

Hindustan .

Only approx 28% educated people reads.

53

Newspape

r

Amar

ujala D.J.

Hindusta

n

The

Hindu TOI

I-

next HT OTHER

% of

Readers 23 25 21 8 10 1 10 2

Question No. 3

3) How do you feel when you hear the name of “Hindustan”?

( Please tick on any one of graphics)

TABLE NO. 1.3 Showing different attitude

Attitude(Graphical Scale) Good Neutral Bad

No. of respondents whose attitude

towards “Hindustan” 248 126 26

Percentage of attitude towards

“Hindustan” 62 32 6

Mean = 80 Mode = Good (248)

GRAPH NO.1.3 Showing attitude of respondents towards “Hindustan”

Good62%

Neutral32%

Bad6%

Percentage of attitude towards "Hindus-tan"

Good

Neutral

Bad

Approx 62% educated respondent who don’t read “Hindustan” but their attitude to-

wards Hindustan is good. This shows “Hindustan” having good brand or image in

the mind of potential customers.

Approx 32% educated respondents are having neutral attitude towards Hindustan.

These respondents read Hindustan very hardly. These people know Hindi but like

to read. They may not be much aware of the importance of Hindustan product.

54

Question No. 4

4) What do you think about quality of information of “Hindustan” as compare to other

English NewsPapers?

(A)Excellent (B) Good (C) Fair (D) Poor (E) Cannot say

(B) TABLE NO.1.4 Showing scale of quality of information of “Hindustan”

GRAPH NO.1.4 Showing % of quality of information of “Hindustan”

Excellent30%

Good51%

Fair10%

Poor2%

Cannot7%

Percentage of Quality of information provided by Hindustan

ExcellentGoodFairPoorCannot say

The quality of information provided by the Hindustan is good because approx.

30% respondents said excellent and 51% good. This shows that “The Times of

India” information is too specific and the newspaper is too friendly in nature.

Question No.5

5) (a) If somebody provide you “Hindustan” at free of cost, then are you going to read

it? why________________________________________

55

QUALITY Excellent Good Fair Poor

Cannot

say

No. of respondents 121 205 40 6 28

Percentage of Quality of

information provided by “ Hin-

dustan” 30 51 10 2 7

Mean = 80 Mode = Good (205)

Scale

Fre

e of

Cos

t

Improve-

ment in

Languag

e

Inform

-

ation

Good

Conten

t

Good

Reputatio

n

National

and

Interna-

tional

News

Not

Inter-

Ested

percentag

e of effect

of

providing

“

Hindustan

” at free of

cost 57 7.28 13.1 6.79 2.42 1.45 12.13

Mean Approx 60 Mode = Free of cost (57%)

TABLE NO. 1.5.1 Showing effect of providing “Hindustan” free of cost

GRAPH 1.5.1 Showing –Percentage of effect of providing Hindustan at free of cost

Because you provide

Free of Cost 57%

Improvement in Language

7%

for gettingInformation

13%

Good Content 7%

Good Reputa-tion2%

National and International

News 2%

Not Interested

12%

Effect of provide Hindustan at free of cost

According to our survey, approx 57% respondents are ready to read “Hindustan”

newspaper, if we provide at free of cost, it means that they are aware about it but

they don’t want to subscribe it, maybe they don’t feel worth to its price or may be

lack of communication of times of India.

31% respondent are ready to read because they know the benefit of reading

Hindustan like to get general knowledge, national and international news.

56

Approx 12% respondent are not interested to read newspaper because they are

getting the news from other sources like TV, radio, internet or from the market.

(b) What will be frequency of reading “Hindustan”?

(A) All of the time (B) Very often (C) Often (D) Sometime (E) Hardly ever

TABLE NO. 1.5.2 Frequency of reading “Hindustan” at free of cost

FREQUENCY

All of the

time

Very of-

ten Often

Some

time

Hardly

ever

Frequency of

reading “Hindustan” 117 117 67 78 21

Mean 80 Mode 117

GRAPH 1.5.2 Showing Frequency of reading newspaper at free of cost

All of the time Very often Often Some thing Hardly ever0

20

40

60

80

100

120117 117

6778

21

Frequency of reading TOI

If we provide “Hindustan” at free of cost than 234 respondents said that they are

going to read newspaper very often, it means they like this newspaper, want to read

it but they might be thinking that cost of “Hindustan” newspaper is high.

Mean is 80 which is near to 79, less than 117, it means average people is going

read newspaper very often. There may be gap of communication of value or

importance of “Hindustan” to target readers.

Question No. 6

6)How much reliable information of “Hindustan” is?57

(A) Very much (B) Much (C) Neutral (D) Not much (E) Not at all

TABLE NO. 1.6 Showing reliability of Information

Category Scale

Very

much Much Neutral

Not

Much

Not at

all

No of respondents who

think Reliability of infor-

mation of “Hindustan”

117 164 84 28 7

Mean 80 Mode = Much (164)

GRAPH NO. 1.6 Showing reliability of readers on “Hindustan” Information

Very much Much Neutral Not Much Not at all0

20406080

100120140160180

117

164

84

28

7

Category scale

According to our survey, approx 281 out of 400 respondents rely on information

provided by Hindustan, because of following these three reasons

1. Strongest brand in newspaper

2. Not adding “mirch masala” in news by “Hindustan”.

3. “Hindustan” takes opinion from readers not vice-a-versa

Question No.7

7) Ticks on more than two relevant boxes.

Time constrains to read any (English and Hindi) newspaper.

More time consumption to read English NewsPaper (“Hindustan”)

Not easily available in your area (service/delivery problem )

(mention area____________________________________)

58

Requirement to read other newspapers……………….

Mention name

Prefer to reads at your home

TABLE NO.1.7 Showing the problems faced by respondents

Category

Scale

Time Con-

straints Any

Newspaper

Time Con-

sumption For

Hindustan

Not Eas-

ily

Available

Read Other

Newspaper

Prefer

English

News

Paper At

Home

No.of res-

pondent 134 110 45 29 106

IN % 31 28 11 6 24

Mean 85 Mode Time constrains (134)

GRAPH NO.1.7 Showing-

Like metro cities, Delhi people do not have time to read newspaper. They

update themselves by Internet, T.V. and radio.

They just watch T.V. channels where channels like “AAJ TAK”, “IBN 7” give

information of every half an hour and get news.

Approx 28% respondents have problem of time consumed to read any, their

English is not much improved so they get irritated by this and ultimately they

switch over from English to English NewsPaper.

In U.P. state, most of people’s mother tongue is Hindi and their culture is also

Hindi, so approx 24% respondents prefer to read English NewsPapers at their

59

time constraints31%

time consumption28%

not easily availeble

11%

required to readother newspaper

6%

prefer English newspaper at home 24%

percentage of respondents having problem to read newspaper

home. Educated family is also subscribing one English NewsPaper at their home so

their family members are definitely going to read English NewsPaper.

Question No. 8

8) Anything you dislike in “Hindustan”.

___________________________________________________

DISLIKE Nothing

More Ad-

vertise

Ments Sexy Images Other

Respondents who

dislike in “ Hidus-

tan” 232 56 88 24

In % 58 14 22 6

Mean = 66 Mode Nothing(228)

TABLE NO. 1.9 Showing dislike in “Hindustan” by students

GRAPH NO.1.8 Showing-

Nothing58%

Sexy image22%

More ad.14%

Other6%

percentage of respodent who dislike in "Hindustan"

nothing

sexy image

more ad.

other

Question No.9

9) Lacking in cover local news that other newspapers cover?

A) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree60

TABLE NO. 1.9 Showing coverage of local news

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

Coverage of

news 59 86 155 84 15

In % 15 21 39 21 4

Mean 80 Mode Uncertain(155)

GRAPH NO. 1.9 Showing local news cover by “Hindustan”

S. Agree15%

Agree21%

Uncertain39%

Disagree21%

4%

Strongly Agree

Agree

Uncertain

Disagree

Strongly disagree

If we look at graph then we can find that approx 36% respondents agree with that

“Hindustan” is lacking in covering local news. They like to read local news first

than national. They find more local news in local newspaper like Dainik jagran and

Amar Ujala.

Approx 39% respondents are uncertain about this. It means “Hindustan” is lacking

in covering local news or people are not aware about it.

Only approx 21% people disagree.

Here mean is 80 and every data except uncertain are close to mean. More value is

above mean that also prove that “Hindustan” lacking in covering local news.

61

Question No. 10

10) Do you think “Hindustan” is going to add value to your life?

A) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree

TABLE NO.1.10 Showing people who think Hindustan is going to add value

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

No. of People who

think “Hindustan”

going to add value in

their life 79 169 99 32 21

Mean 80 Mode Agree(169)

GRAPH 1.10 Showing -

62

Strongly Agree 79

Agree 169

Uncertain 99

3221

No.of People who think Hindustan going to add value in their life

Strongly Agree

Agree

Uncertain

Disagree

Strongly disagree

248 respondents agree with “Hindustan” going to add value in their life if they read

“Hindustan”. So it shows Hindustan’s importance in their life.

They think that by reading Hindustan their knowledge, life style, status are going

to improve.

99 respondents are uncertain about it.

Question No. 11

11) Is “Hindustan” providing information effectively to you?

A) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree

TABLE NO. 1.11 Showing information provided effectively to you

]

GRAPH NO 1.11 Showing effectiveness of providing information by “Hindustan”

63

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

Effectiveness of

information 93 127 105 49 26

Mean 80 Mode Agree(127)

Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

93

127

105

49

26

Effectiveness of information

Effectiveness of providing news to reader of “Hindustan” is good. 127 respondents

agree with this thing.

105 respondents are not aware about effectiveness of providing Hindi news.

Question No. 12

12) Are T.V., Radio or internet giving more knowledge than “Hindustan”?

A) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree

TABLE NO. 1.12 Showing T.V and RADIO give more knowledge than Hindustan

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

knowledge more than

“Hindustan” 82 120 110 51 37

In % 20 30 28 13 9

Mean 80 Mode Agree(120)

64

GRAPH NO. 1.12 Showing -

S. Agree20%

Agree30%

Uncertain28%

13%

9%

T.V. radio give more knowledge than Hindustan

Strongly AgreeAgreeUncertainDisagreeStrongly disagree

Internet, radio, T.V. and new emerging threat mobiles are now main source of

information. And because of this, newspaper industry is facing problem. People

like to watch T.V., listening radio and new and big sources of information are

Internet and mobile, people like assess this.

So 50% respondents agree with T.V., radio and internet give them more knowledge

than a newspaper.

28% respondents are not aware about that which is going to give more knowledge

electronic media or print media.

Q 13. Have you availed any scheme in newspapers so far?

( )Yes ( )No

65

schemes prefrence

yes , 92%

no, 8%

yes no

ANALYSIS -: The above chart depicts that mostly people are more conscious about

availing the schemes as 92% people avail the schemes as per our survey.

Q 14.Which news do you like most in a newspaper?

Business news Political news Life style news

General news Other

news preference

business, 24%

political, 16%

life style , 24%

general, 32%

other, 4%

business political life style general other

66

ANALYSIS-: Hence the above chart shows that majority of the people like general news, 24%

people like political news and business news While 4% people said other kind of news and 24%

people said life style related news.

Q15. Do you think that price of newspaper is reasonable now as compared to other newspapers.?

YES NO

yes, 91%

no, 9%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

yes no

price reasonability

Series1

67

ANALYSIS -: 91% OF THE RESPONDANTS say that now price of the newspaper is reasonable as compared to

other newspapers WHEREAS 9% people said no as per according to them other newspapers were comparatively cheap.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF HINDUSTAN TIMES

Competitive strengths

The following are principal competitive strengths which differentiate them from other

Indian print media companies.

1. STRONG NATIONAL BRAND -: Hindustan Times is one of the leading media

brands in India. The brand commands respect and creditability and offers

competitive advantages when entering new markets like Mumbai.

68

2. LEADING PRINT MEDIA COMPANY -: as a leading print media company they

believe that we attract higher ad-n spend, better rates and more attractive business

arrangements than many of their competitors.

3. EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE -: Their newspapers are recognize for their superior

editorial content and their unbiased and independent reporting. Hindustan times

journalists have won numerous media industry awards and re well recognized for

their excellence.

4. PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT -: They have executive management team that

have blend of Media industry experience and professional expertise drawn across

different countries.

5. EXPERIENCE IN LAUNCHING NEWSPAPERS IN MARKETS -: They have

successfully launched newspapers in markets such as Mumbai, Bihar, Uttar

Pradesh and surrounding areas, quickly gaining strong market shares in these

markets.

WEAKNESSES

1. IRREGULAR DISTRIBUTION -: The complementary copy of Hindustan

times was send about in 2000 addresses but at most of the places we visited, we

got feedback that newspaper was not reaching regularly. So due to irregular

distribution the newspaper was not reaching to the target readers

2. FREE GIFTS NOT PROVIDED LIKE OTHER COMPANIES -: As other

companies were providing free gifts like ToI but free gifts were not provided to

69

households. So this was the reason people were not preferring this newspaper

instead of good quality newspaper and coupons schemes.

3. COMPLAINTS NOT HANDLED PROPERLY -: There was a delay in

handling complaints of people.

OPPORTUNITIES

It can successfully target People living in chandigarh as most of the people are high profile

and educated people so by improving it’s quality and providing schemes in terms of

promotional pricing and free gifts it can have a successful launch.

THREATS

Still there is intense competition in market so other newspaper companies like TOI can

pose a threat for it by using counter strategies against it. It captures generally untapped

markets before HT can reach so this can pose a threat.

FINDINGS.

1. Customers are aware about the Hindustan newspaper.

2. Most of the customers are satisfied with the service of Hindustan.

3. Good service is the factor, which influence the sale of the Hindustan.

4. 50% respondents agree with, internet, radio and T.V. are providing more

knowledge than Hindustan. They like to take information, news from electronics

media only.

5. Due to good branding, improvement in reader’s life, and status, 248 out of 400

think “Hindustan” is going to add value in their life.

6. If any newspaper does not cover local news, then nobody is interested to subscribe

it, approx 36% respondent agree with “Hindustan” lacking in covering local news.

But 39% respondents are uncertain about it.

70

7. 31% respondents do not have time to read newspaper because of tight schedule or

job. They get news from T.V., internet and radio.

8. Now if we provide “Hindustan” at free of cost, then 57% of respondent going to

read it, it means Meerut people do not feel worth to its prices or money is more

important them and frequency of reading “Hindustan” (if we provide “Hindustan”

at free of cost) is very often because 234 out of 400 respondents are ready to read

“Hindustan” every day.

9. Educated people also like to read, because of their convenience with English

language.

10. Approx 65% respondents are students and employees, who are “Hindustan”

readers. Due to good branding, improvement in reader’s life, and status, 248 out of

400 think “Hindustan” is going to add value in their life.

11. Hindustan is providing good schemes to its readers.

12. Readers liked very much the Mansoon Dhamaka offer of Hindustan

CONCLUSION

71

CONCLUSION

The Hindustan is one of the famous brand names in print media sector in Meerut region.

It has a diversified business in print media. The following conclusions were made on the

basis of descriptive research, which was undertaken by using survey method :

1. Hindustan is the second largest newspaper in English NewsPapers in Meerut.

2. Customers are satisfied and want to read Hindustan.

72

3. It was also observed that 92% Of the people with whom we surveyed had already

availed schemes while rest of the people had not availed. This shows that people

are now more attracted towards schemes.

4. It was also observed that majority people take decision for which newspaper to buy

based on feature that services should be good in terms of regular distribution and

some other factors.

5. Majority people are satisfied with the quality, content of the newspaper.

6. Majority people prefer general news in newspaper in our area of survey rather than

business and political news.

7. The competition was so intense due to other newspapers that were offering

promotional schemes.

8.Majority people immediately subscribed the newspaper after listening towards the

schemes.

9.Although HT newspaper has become a leading newspaper still it is facing

competition from its rivals like Times of India.

During survey we found some strengths of Hindustan like-

1. Non-Hindustan have good attitude towards Hindustan.

2. They think “Hindustan provide quality of information”.

3. Hindustan will add value to their life.

4. The schemes provided by Hindustan are liked by consumers.

5. Provide information effectively

6. They rely on information given by Hindustan.

7. The supplements of Hindustan are liked by customers.

73

74

75

Following are some suggestions for Hindustan Times newspaper-:

HT should also provide free gifts with subscription to households along with

students because as for households ladies are more interested about listening

schemes only if gifts are provided.

HT should try to capture the untapped markets well before any other rival should

reach to it.

In order to get proper feedback of customers satisfaction, post-purchase behavior

surveys should be conducted at regular intervals

In a distribution channel of newspapers hawkers are last channel through which

newspapers are delivered to the final consumer. Thus in order to maintain good

relations with the hawkers they can be provide with the bicycles, raincoats (for

rainy seasons) free health camps for them etc.

Company should itself allot a vendor for customers in case if the customers are

facing the problems due to irregular distribution.

TOI is giving stiff competition to Ht so in response to the strategies they are

applying Ht should immediately launch Unique promotional strategies.

Instead of giving Coupons to customers only second page of coupon booklet

should be torn and should be given as proof to customers rest all booklet should be

given to the vendor

76

77

LIMITATIONS

No project is without limitations and it becomes essential to figure out the various

constraints that we underwent during the study.

The following point in this direction would add to our total deliberations—

1. During the study on many occasions the respondent groups gave us a cold shoulder.

2. The respondents from whom primary data was gathered any times displayed complete

ignorance about the complete branded range, which was being studied.

3. Lack of time is the basic limitation in the project.

4. Some retailer/whole sellers refuse to cooperate with the queries.

5. Some retailer/whole sellers gave a biased or incomplete information regarding the

study.

6. Money played a vital factor in the whole project duration.

7. Lack of proper information and experience due to short period of time.

8. Some retailers did not answer all the questions or did not have time to answer.

9. At times customers are not ready to listen to the information given to them because they

are too angry with the whole processing system. So didn't respond.

10. Distribution strategies of Hindustan Times are not up to the mark

Despite the fact that the questionnaire method is widely used in marketing research it has

several important limitations.

Unwillingness of respondent to provide information.

Inability of respondent to provide correct information..

Questionnaire can be administered to respondents who have considerable

amount of education.

Success and effectiveness mainly depends on the co-operation of the

respondents.

In many situations researcher is not in a positions to detect the respondents is

bias.

Unintelligent answers or misinterpretation of any question by the respondents

could not be corrected.

Non-response rate is very high.

78

79

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Marketing Research (Author- G C Beri)

(Publish by Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co. LTD., New Delhi)

Third Edition(2002)

Marketing Management (Author- Rajan Sexana)

(Publish by Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co. LTD, New Delhi)

Second Edition(2001)

Marketing Management (Author- R S Sexana)

(Publish by Himalya Publication, New Delhi)

Ninth Edition (2000)

Marketing Management (Author- Philip Kotler)

(Publish by Pren Tice-hall of India PVT. LTD., New Delhi)

13th Edition(2002)

Research Methodology (Author- Bhandrai)

Print 2004, second edition

“Kothari C.R,Research Methodology Methods and Techniques,Wishwa

Prakshan,New Delhi,2001

Gupta S.P, Business Statistics,Sultan Chand &Sons,New Delhi,12th edition,2004.

Dalrymple. J Douglas,Marketing Management,John Wiler&Sons,New Delhi,7th

edition

80

QUESTIONNAIRE

Name:

Address:

Telephone No.:

Occupation:

Salaried Self Employed Unemployed

Business Others (specify) _____________

Question No. 1

Which news paper are you reading?

1) Amar Ujala 2) D.J. 3) Hindustan 4) The Hindu

5) TOI 6) I-next 7) HT 8) Other

Newspaper

Amar

ujala D.J. Hindustan

The

Hindu TOI

I-

next HT OTHER

% of

Readers

.

Question No. 2

81

How do you feel when you hear the name of “Hindustan”?

( Please tick on any one of graphics)

Question No. 3

What do you think about quality of information of “Hindustan” as compared to other

English NewsPapers?

(C) Excellent (B) Good (C) Fair (D) Poor (E) Cannot say

.

Question No.4

If somebody provides you “Hindustan” at free of cost, then are you going to read it?

why________________________________________

Scale

Free

of

Cost

Improve-

ment in

Language

Inform-

ation

Good

Conten

t

Good

Reputation

National

and

Interna-

tional

News

Not

Inter-

Ested

percentage

of effect of

providing

“

Hindustan”

at free of

cost

(b) What will be frequency of reading “Hindustan”?

(A) All of the time (B) Very often (C) Often (D) Sometime (E) Hardly ever

TABLE

FREQUENCY All of the Very of- Often Some Hardly

82

time ten time ever

Frequency of

reading “Hindustan”

Mean Mode

Question No. 5

How much reliable information of “Hindustan” is?

(A) Very much (B) Much (C) Neutral (D) Not much (E) Not at all

Category Scale

Very

much Much Neutral

Not

Much

Not at

all

No of respondents who

think Reliability of infor-

mation of “Hindustan”

Mean Mode

Question No.6

13) Ticks on more than two relevant boxes.

Time constrains to read any (English and Hindi) newspaper.

More time consumption to read English NewsPaper (“Hindustan”)

Not easily available in your area (service/delivery problem )

(mention area____________________________________)

Requirement to read other newspapers……………….

Mention name

Prefer to reads at your home

Question No. 7

14) Anything you dislike in “Hindustan”.

83

DISLIKE Nothing

More Ad-

vertisement

s

Sexy Images Other

Respondents who

dislike in “ Hidus-

tan”

In %

Mean Mode

-

Question No.8

Lacking in cover local news that other newspapers cover?

B) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

Coverage of

news

In %

Question No. 9

Do you think “Hindustan” is going to add value to your life?

B) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree

TABLE NO.1.10 Showing people who think Hindustan is going to add value

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

No. of People who

84

think “Hindustan”

going to add value in

their life

Mean Mode

Question No. 10

Is “Hindustan” providing information effectively to you?

B) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree

]

Question No. 11

Are T.V., Radio or internet giving more knowledge than “Hindustan”?

B) Strongly agree B) Agree C) Uncertain D) Disagree E) Strongly disagree

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

knowledge more than

“Hindustan”

Mean Mode

Q 12. Have you availed any scheme in newspapers so far?

( )Yes ( )No85

Scale

Strongly

Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree

Strongly

disagree

Effectiveness of

information

Mean Mode

Q 13.Which news do you like most in a newspaper?

Business news Political news Life style news

General news Other

Q14. Do you think that price of newspaper is reasonable now as compared to other

newspapers.?

YES NO

86