`Hindustan Times' among newspapers targeted by global media

[dArKeR]

These days media developments in India are grabbing headlines because here, as in other sectors of the economy, the outside world is taking an interest. Perhaps most significantly, the Wall Street Journal is planning a launch in the country through a tie-up with Bennett, Coleman & Co, publisher of one of the largest broadsheets in the world, the Times of India, which claims a circulation of 2.2 million.

The venture is planning to publish the Wall Street Journal five days a week, edited for global Indian business readers and international business travellers, drawing on the newspaper's global content. Dow Jones would own 26 percent in the venture -- the maximum foreign equity allowed under law, and Bennett, Coleman would pick up the balance.

As newspaper publishers across the world worry about diminishing returns, India is one of the few countries showing a growth in newspaper circulation. For the period 1998 to 2002, newspaper sales in India were up by 17 percent, according to the World Association of Newspapers.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/02/05/2003097557