Business Standard (India)

About Business Standard (India)

Business Standard (India) is a leading English-language financial daily newspaper published from New Delhi, and one of India's most respected sources of business and economic journalism. Founded in Kolkata in 1975 by the ABP Group and acquired by Kotak Mahindra Finance in 1997 in a deal led by Uday Kotak, the newspaper is owned by Business Standard Private Limited and published by Business Standard Ltd from its headquarters at Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi. Covering the Indian economy, infrastructure, international business and trade, financial markets, corporate governance and policy, it publishes from 12 centres across the country and reaches readers in more than 1,000 towns and cities. It is also published in a Hindi edition, making it one of the few Indian business dailies to serve readers in both English and Hindi.

The name “Business Standard” is used by publications in other countries as well; this profile covers the Indian financial daily headquartered in New Delhi, the newspaper known among Indian business readers simply as BS. With a staff of more than 400 journalists and a circulation of about 189,000 copies, it has long held the position of India's second-largest business daily by circulation, behind The Economic Times and ahead of Mint. Its editorial philosophy stresses accuracy and credibility, informed and independent commentary, and journalism rooted in ethical conduct and a close bond with the reader.

History

Business Standard was launched on 26 March 1975 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) by the Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) group as a business paper for the eastern region. Much of its initial staff came from the group's morning general daily, Hindustan Standard, which was simultaneously converted into a modest evening tabloid, while key senior staff were hired from the Financial Express in Mumbai and Delhi. Despite being published only in Calcutta, the paper quickly developed an all-India reputation as a feisty, irreverent title that went for scoops. Operating on a low-cost model with a small editorial team and just eight pages on most days, it earned a tidy profit through an add-on advertising tariff to the group's mainline papers, Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph, and held its own even after The Economic Times launched its Calcutta edition in 1976.

By the early 1990s, however, the paper was in trouble. As The Economic Times reinvented itself and grew rapidly, Business Standard lost roughly half its circulation, falling to around 8,000 copies, while losses mounted toward Rs 50 crore. ABP, a regional publishing company that could not sustain the bleeding, spun the paper off into a separate company. In 1997, Kotak Mahindra Finance, led by Uday Kotak, acquired the paper for a token sum. Kotak later recalled that the cost of acquisition was virtually zero and that he believed a Rs 20 crore investment could turn the paper around. The gamble worked: under new ownership and fresh capital, Business Standard rebuilt itself into a national business daily.

Ownership and Publisher

Business Standard is owned by Business Standard Private Limited, associated with the Kotak Mahindra group, and published by Business Standard Ltd. The acquisition by Kotak Mahindra Finance in 1997 marked one of the most unusual ownership stories in Indian media: a financial services company rescuing a loss-making newspaper and building it into a respected national brand. In 2003, the Financial Times of London picked up a 13.8 per cent stake in Business Standard Ltd for Rs 141 million, one of the first foreign investments in an Indian newspaper after the government liberalized investment norms, cementing the paper's standing among international business publications.

The paper's ownership by interests linked to a major bank has periodically attracted scrutiny, as when Yes Bank in 2018 accused the newspaper of publishing hostile coverage at the behest of Uday Kotak, a charge Kotak Mahindra Bank rebutted by noting that ownership rested with the Kotak family. The episode underscored the sensitivities that attend bank-owned journalism in India, even as the paper has maintained its reputation for independent reporting.

Editions and Reach

The English-language edition is published from 12 centres: New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Pune, Kochi and Bhubaneswar, and is also printed from Bhopal, reaching readers in over 1,000 towns and cities across India. The Hindi edition of Business Standard is published from six centres: New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhopal and Chandigarh, with its content available online at bshindi.com. The paper is printed in colour from its centres and maintains a broadsheet format.

With a circulation of about 189,000 copies, Business Standard is India's third-largest selling financial newspaper, behind The Economic Times and Mint. The Indian Readership Survey has tracked its position over the years: in January 2019 it was judged the fourth-largest financial newspaper by average annual readership and the third-largest selling financial newspaper, and by the 2019 fourth-quarter survey it had gained readers to reach an average issue readership of 189,000 copies.

Editorial Leadership

One of the defining figures in the paper's modern history is T. N. Ninan, who joined as editor in 1993 and led the paper through its transformation under Kotak ownership until 2009, when he moved to The Economic Times. In January 2010, Ninan became chairman and editorial director of Business Standard Ltd. He was succeeded as editor by Sanjaya Baru, formerly media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; after Baru left to join a UK-based think tank in 2011, veteran journalist Ashok K. Bhattacharya, formerly of The Pioneer and The Economic Times, took charge. The paper's editorial team is led by Shailesh Dobhal, and its reporting staff numbers more than 400 journalists.

The paper has employed some of the country's best-known business journalists, and its newsroom culture has long prized the scoop. In its early Calcutta years it was known as a feisty paper that chased stories aggressively, and that reputation for news-breaking survived the transition to a national daily.

Columnists and Contributors

Business Standard hosts one of the strongest rosters of columnists and expert contributors in Indian financial journalism. Its regular columnists have included Bimal Jalan, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Subir Gokarn, former RBI deputy governor; Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India; Deepak Lal, professor of economics at UCLA; Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic adviser and scholar at the Peterson Institute for International Economics; Urjit Patel, former RBI governor; Nitin Desai, former chief economic adviser and former UN under-secretary-general; and Suman Bery, director-general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research.

This bench of contributors, drawn from the top ranks of economic policymaking and academia, is a key part of the paper's appeal to serious business readers. The paper's opinion pages are widely read by policymakers, corporate executives and investors for informed, independent and fair commentary on economic policy.

Coverage Areas

The newspaper covers the Indian economy in depth, with dedicated reporting on infrastructure, international business and trade, financial quotations, corporate governance, markets, banking, technology and policy. Its newsroom produces data-driven reporting on companies and sectors, and its analyses of budgets, monetary policy and regulatory changes are closely followed in business circles. The paper's journalism lays equal stress on quality, credibility and accuracy, and it has built its brand on being the first choice of serious business readers.

Beyond the daily newspaper, Business Standard Ltd has published specialist periodicals, including BS Motoring, an automotive magazine, reflecting the company's broader interests in content creation and publishing.

The Hindi Edition

Business Standard's Hindi edition, launched in February 2008 from seven centres and now published from six, extends the paper's financial journalism to Hindi readers, a market largely underserved by specialist business publications. The Hindi edition carries translated and adapted versions of the English paper's reporting alongside original content, and its website bshindi.com serves Hindi business news online. The dual-language strategy reflects the paper's ambition to make financial journalism accessible beyond the English-speaking business elite.

Digital Presence

The newspaper's website, business-standard.com, is one of India's leading business news portals, attracting over 15 million unique visitors a month, the highest such number for any standalone business newspaper website in India, according to the company. The site offers free online archives, a notable feature among Indian newspaper websites, along with market data, opinion and multimedia content. The paper has a significant following among the Indian diaspora in financial centres such as New York, London, Dubai and Singapore.

The company has positioned its digital operations as central to its future, with the website and mobile platforms carrying the paper's journalism to readers who never see the print edition. The brand's 40th anniversary in 2014 was marked with a television campaign portraying the role the paper plays in helping readers achieve their aspirations, signalling its ambitions as a national business brand.

Market Position and Reputation

For much of its history Business Standard was India's second-largest business daily by circulation, a position it held for years before slipping in 2017. It remains widely described as the country's most respected business daily and the preferred choice of serious business readers. Its vision statement holds that the company believes in providing information that creates wealth and thus enriches life, and its mission is to become the leader among business dailies through quality journalism and service to readers.

In a market dominated by The Economic Times, Business Standard has carved out its identity as the more sober, analysis-driven alternative, the paper of record for readers who value depth over breadth. Its survival and growth from a near-death experience in the 1990s to a national institution is one of the great turnaround stories of Indian print media.