Paper boom

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Expect a burst of new print medium launches in the coming year. No one has
firmed up plans as yet, but several have commissioned market surveys. The
Ruias of the Essar group are looking at the possibility of launching a
magazine business for a family member. They have commissioned a market
survey. And the Hindujas are rumoured to be toying with the idea of
launching a newspaper, first in English and later in vernacular languages,
and are prepared to wait for eight years for the project to break even. The
Hindujas had in the 1980s sought to bring "The International Herald Tribune"
to India but this won't be the IHT. Launching niche magazines makes sense,
if nothing else because a businessman can hawk a 74 per cent stake in them
to foreign investors. But launching a newspaper in the Mumbai market will be
a challenge. Taking on Bennett Coleman & Company's "The Times of India" will
be the biggest challenge of all, but "The Hindustan Times" will some day
leap into Mumbai, as could the ABP group's "The Telegraph." Unless, of
course, a totally different kind of newspaper is on the anvil.
Source:
http://www.business-standard.com/ice/story.asp?Menu=8&story=28858