The Times of India (
TOI) is a popular
English-language broadsheet daily newspaper in
India. It has the
widest circulation among all
English-language daily newspapers in the world, across all formats (broadsheet,
compact,
Berliner and
online).
It is owned and managed by
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned by the
Sahu Jain family.
In 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a circulation of over 3.14 million) it was certified by the
Audit Bureau of Circulations as the world's largest selling English-language daily newspaper, placing as the 8th largest selling newspaper in any language in the world. According to the Indian Readership Survey (
IRS) 2008, the
Times of India is the most widely read English newspaper in India with a readership of 13.3 million. This ranks the
Times of India as the top English newspaper in
India by readership. According to
ComScore,
TOI Online is the world's most-visited newspaper website with 159 million page views in May 2009, ahead of the
New York Times,
The Sun,
Washington Post,
Daily Mail and
USA Today websites.
History
The Times of India was founded on
November 3,
1838 as
The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, during the
British Raj. It was adopted in 1861. Published every Saturday and Wednesday,
The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce was launched as a bi-weekly edition. It contained news from
Europe,
the Americas, and the
Subcontinent, and was conveyed between India and Europe via regular steamships. The daily editions of the paper were started from 1850 and by 1861, the
Bombay Times was renamed
The Times of India. In the 19th century this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and had a sizable circulation in India and Europe. Originally British-owned and controlled, its last British editor was Ivor S. Jehu, who resigned the editorship in 1950. It was after
India's
Independence that the ownership of the paper passed on to the then famous industrial family of
Dalmiyas and later it was taken over by
Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the
Sahu Jain group from
Bijnore,
UP.
The
Times of India is published by the
media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. This company, along with its other group companies, known as
The Times Group, also publishes
The Economic Times,
Mumbai Mirror, the
Navbharat Times (a
Hindi-language daily broadsheet), the
Maharashtra Times (a
Marathi-language daily broadsheet).
The
Times is self-declared as a liberal newspaper,
and is sometimes described as irreverent.
The present management of
The Times Group has been instrumental in changing the outlook of Indian journalism. In India, as is elsewhere in the world, the Editor of a newspaper has traditionally been considered as the most notable position in a newspaper set up. The Times of India, however, changed this in the early 1990s, in keeping with the management policy of treating the newspaper as just another brand in the market. The main newspaper and its many sub-editions are now run by editors who are appointed within the ranks and the company gives equal chance to everyone to occupy the editor's seat. The Times Group also places equal focus and importance to every department and function - which has made it a professional entity and ensured its place as the most profitable newspaper in the country.
In January 2007, the
Kannada edition was launched in
Bangalore and in April 2008 the Chennai edition was launched. Their main rivals in India are
The Hindu and
Hindustan Times, which hold second and third position by
circulation.
Editions
The Times of India is printed from the following places:
TOI press at Sahibabad
Total Average Circulation for 2008: 3,433,000 copies
World Top Ten English Dailies (as per Net Sales)
1. The Times of India (India): 3,433,000
2. The Sun (UK): 3,046,000
3. USA Today (USA): 2,293,000
4. Daily Mail (UK): 2,194,000
5. The Wall Street Journal (USA): 2,012,000
6. The Daily Mirror (UK): 1,400,000
7. The Hindu (India): 1,331,000
8. The Hindustan Times (India): 1,189,000
9. The Deccan Chronicle (India): 1,003,000
10: The New York Times (USA): 1,001,000
Source: World Press Trends 2009 (published by World Association of Newspapers)
Web presence
According to research carried out by
ComScore (an Internet market research company),
timesofindia.com was the world's most popular news portal as of May 2009, with 159 million page views.
People associated with the Times of India
- Samir Jain, Vice-Chairman & Publisher
- Vineet Jain, Managing Director
- Bachi Karkaria, columnist, "Erratica"
- Jaideep Bose, Executive Editor
- M J Akbar, Columnist, "The Siege Within" and former Editorial Team
- Gautam Adhikari, former Executive Editor, Editorial Consultant
- Trivadi, columnist and humorist well known for his editorials, humor pieces, and satirical poems.
Supplements
The Times of India comes with several city-specific supplements, such as Delhi Times, Calcutta Times, Bombay Times, Hyderabad Times, Kanpur Times, Lucknow Times, , Nagpur Times, Bangalore Times, Pune Times, Ahmedabad Times and Chennai Times, The Times of South Mumbai, The Times of Doon, Meerut Plus, Haridwar Plus , Bhopal Plus .
Other regular supplements include:
Times Wellness (Saturdays) – Times Wellness focuses on solutions to health issues and guidance to better living
Education Times (Mondays) – Education Times caters to the ever-expanding student community and learning experience, as a career guidance, counselor and adviser.
Times Ascent (Wednesdays) – Editorial of Times Ascent centers on human resource development, and the impact and implications on business and society.
ZIG WHEELS – ZigWheels.com is an automotive website reviewing, discussing, features and interviews on Indian vehicles.
Times Life (Sundays) – Times Life is the supplement which is feature driven
What's Hot (Fridays) – Focus on latest happenings/events. Special pages created for channels and details of programmes
Rouge (Saturdays) – Concentrates on women's interest areas.
Tabloids:
Mumbai Mirror Kolkata MirrorBangalore Mirror Ahmedabad Mirror Pune Mirror Indore Mirror'' See also
