IPAMA BULLETIN PRINTPACK INDIA 2019
IPPSTAR – THE FUTURE OF INDIAN LANGUAGE DAILIES
Major Hindi dailies can flex their muscles in the coming 5 years
T
he Hindi dailies represent
around one-third of the
printed newspaper in the
country. Recent examination of the
DAVP list of language papers, ABC
circulation figures and the IRS 2017
readership survey figures have been
decoded by IppStar (www.ippstar.
org). These public figures taken
together with their own survey data
and discussion with expert informants
in the language dailies have led to a
quantitative understanding together
with some thoughts on how the Hindi
dailies will progress over the next
five years. IppStar has also begun
its research of Marathi and Tamil
dailies, some of which will be shared in
subsequent articles.
The main proposition that we sought
to test was that the leading Hindi dailies
will continue to grow in editions, color
pagination and circulation. It is likely that
circulation revenues will increase with a
gradual rise in the cover price but this is seen
by publishers as merely a way of keeping up
with newsprint price rises, which as a rule
of thumb may be anticipated to rise at US$
60 each year given the global shrinkage in
demand.
Hindi dailies have cover prices ranging
from Rs. 1 to Rs. 5 and the price can vary
from day to day, reflecting both pagination
changes and a way of increasing prices
gradually while moderating customer
resistance. Other circulation schemes include
sale of annual subscriptions in advance that
can be encashed each month in exchange for
the daily of one’s choice at discounted rates.
We examined approximately 800 Hindi
dailies and divided these into five group
according to their circulations which we
estimate to be about 5 crore copies or 50
million. More than half this circulation
comes from the top 20 newspaper groups
while another 1.5 crore copies are produced
by the next 145 newspapers. The balance
copies are produced by the remaining more
than 600 much smaller dailies.
The thesis which is propounded by several
leading Hindi newspaper professionals is
that in the next five years till FY 2022-23,
it is likely that the big groups will continue
to expand. And that the smaller dailies
especially those that produce 4, 8 and 12
broadsheet pages daily with little or no color
and which have circulations below 50,000
10 | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 | SUPPORTED BY IPP & PSA
Hindi dailies have cover
prices ranging from Rs.
1 to Rs. 5 and the price
can vary from day to day,
reflecting both pagination
changes and a way of
increasing prices gradually
while moderating customer
resistance.
copies are likely to effectively close down.
(It must also be pointed here also be that in
no other Indian language are there so many
more dailies in the DAVP list than those with
ABC audited circulations.)
IppStar forecasts that with moderate
growth the circulation of Hindi dailies will
increase by .5 core or 5 million copies in the
next five years with the maximum growth
accruing to the leading 165 Hindi dailies. In
the case of high growth over the next five
years the forecast is for a circulation growth
of 1 crore or 10 million copies daily which
will primarily accrue to the leading 165
dailies and of these the top 20 groups are
expected to get the major share. IppStar and
its expert informants expect that the bottom
600 dailies will decline in circulation by
more than 5% and that many of these will
close down.
The thesis of some of the leading Hindi
publishers is that the potential readership
now demands local, national, international
news and infotainment in one place and in
full color, a requirement that can only be
met with larger resources and at least 20 full
color broad sheet pages, with more pages for
supplements and festival season advertising
opportunities. This indicates that only the
leading Hindi daily newspaper organizations
have access to the capital and resources
to provide these type of products. In fact,
one can expect several scenarios in which
the leaders compete to expand in terms of
geography, demographics and even omni-
channel media. z
– Naresh Khanna with inputs
from Gaurav Mishra
VIG GRAPHICS TO TRIPLE FOOTPRINT BY END-2019
Service and maintenance – key to equipment sales
E
stablished in 1995 in Faridabad
in Delhi/NCR, Vig Graphics
offers engineering and
automation solutions for the printing
and packaging industry. Led by its
owner and director Vikram Sarin, the
company has established itself as a
supplier of autoplaten diecutters and
flute laminators across North India.
Vig Graphics manufactures
automatic flute laminators, whereas
its autoplaten diecutters contain
mechanical components produced in
China for manufacturing and assembly
in India. There is a specially designed
stream feeder built for the quality
challenges of local paperboard, as well
as sensors, PLCs, VFDs, contactors
and motors of European standards in
the machine. Vig Graphics recently
added corrugation and automatic
laminating machines to its arsenal.
While these machines incorporate
modern technology, the company also
refurbishes older machines for its
customers by changing specific parts
and adding newer technology for
optimizing the performance and life of
these machines.
As a strong believer in preventive
maintenance, Sarin suggests
strict maintenance schedules to its