India Today

About India Today

Overview

India Today is an English-language news television channel based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. Launched on 17 May 2003 as Headlines Today, it was rebranded as India Today on 23 May 2015, taking its name from the group's flagship newsmagazine. The channel is owned by TV Today Network Limited, part of the Living Media India Limited group founded by Aroon Purie. It is the English sibling of Aaj Tak, India's most-watched Hindi news channel, and benefits from the group's enormous newsgathering resources. India Today is known for investigative journalism, election programming and a relatively balanced editorial tone within the polarised English news genre. It has consistently ranked among the top three English news channels in India. Its official website is indiatoday.in.

History: From Headlines Today to India Today

Headlines Today was launched on 17 May 2003 by TV Today Network as the group's English news offering, complementing Aaj Tak, which had launched as a full channel on 31 December 2000 after beginning as a news programme on Doordarshan. The channel was positioned as a fast-paced, visually dynamic news service and quickly found an audience among young urban viewers. For over a decade it competed with NDTV 24x7, CNN-IBN and Times Now under the Headlines Today name. On 23 May 2015 the channel was rebranded as India Today, unifying the television brand with the India Today magazine, newspaper and digital properties. The rebranding was accompanied by a refreshed on-air identity and an expanded prime-time line-up. The channel's continuity of ownership and management across two decades is unusual in Indian television news.

Ownership and the India Today Group

India Today television is owned by TV Today Network Limited, a publicly listed company that is part of Living Media India Limited, the Aroon Purie-led India Today Group. The group publishes India Today magazine, Business Today, and other titles, operates Aaj Tak and Good News Today (the rebranded Tez channel), and runs the digital platforms indiatoday.in and aajtak.in. Aroon Purie is the chairman and editor-in-chief of the group, and his daughter Kalli Purie is the vice-chairperson. The channel is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, at the group's Film City campus. The backing of one of India's most respected media groups has given the channel financial stability and a deep bench of journalists, and the group's print and television arms frequently collaborate on investigations.

Leadership and Star Anchors

The channel's editorial leadership has included some of the biggest names in Indian television journalism. Rahul Kanwal, who joined the group in 2002, became one of the channel's defining faces as news director, hosting the flagship interview show Newstrack and leading election coverage before his departure in 2025. Rajdeep Sardesai joined as consulting editor in 2014 after leaving CNN-IBN, bringing his interview franchise to the channel. Other prominent anchors have included Gaurav Sawant, Shiv Aroor, Raj Chengappa, Preeti Choudhry and Anjana Om Kashyap on the Hindi side. The group has a reputation for nurturing reporting talent, and its correspondents, particularly in defence and national security beats, are among the most respected in the industry. The channel's anchor roster blends veteran interviewers with younger debate hosts.

Flagship Programming

Newstrack, the channel's long-running interview and analysis show, has been its signature property, featuring in-depth conversations with prime ministers, chief ministers and global leaders. To The Point is a prime-time debate show. So South, a weekend show focused on the southern states, reflects the channel's effort to look beyond the Delhi-Mumbai axis. The channel's election programming is among the most elaborate in Indian television, with the India Today-Axis My India opinion and exit polls being the most widely cited survey data in the country. Special investigative documentaries, sting operations and ground reports from conflict zones and disaster areas are regular features. The channel also produces large conclave events, notably the India Today Conclave, which brings together political and business leaders.

Investigative Journalism and Elections

India Today has built its reputation substantially on investigative journalism and psephology. Its special investigation team has carried out sting operations on topics ranging from medical malpractice to match-fixing, some of which have led to official inquiries. The channel's partnership with the polling agency Axis My India has produced the most accurate and widely quoted pre-poll and exit-poll numbers in recent Indian elections, including the 2014, 2019 and 2024 general elections, giving the channel appointment viewing on results days. Its ground reporting during the Kargil conflict era's successors, the Balakot airstrikes, the Galwan clash and the COVID-19 pandemic earned professional respect. While it too carries prime-time debates, the channel has retained a stronger reporting identity than most rivals.

Market Position and Ratings

India Today has typically ranked among the top three English news channels in BARC ratings, trading positions with CNN-News18 and NDTV 24x7 behind the two leaders, Times Now and Republic TV. Its audience skews toward urban, English-speaking viewers interested in in-depth coverage rather than high-decibel debate. The channel's real commercial strength lies in the group as a whole: sibling Aaj Tak dominates Hindi news, and the combined television and digital footprint of the India Today Group is among the largest in Indian media. The channel commands premium advertising rates during elections and major events, and its conclaves and awards properties generate significant non-advertising revenue. The India Today brand's credibility, built over decades by the magazine, lends the channel an authority that newer entrants lack.

Digital Presence

The channel's digital platform, indiatoday.in, is one of India's most-visited news websites, offering breaking news, live TV streaming, videos, explainers, fact-checks and magazine content. The India Today Group was an early investor in digital news and operates a large online newsroom. The channel's YouTube presence is strong, with interview clips and ground reports attracting millions of views, and it is active across X, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp channels. The group also runs fact-checking initiatives to counter misinformation. Digital subscriptions and e-magazine products add a reader-revenue stream unusual among Indian broadcasters. The integration of television, print and digital under one brand is the group's defining structural advantage.

Awards and Recognition

India Today television has won numerous awards, including "Best English News Channel" honours at the Indian Television Academy Awards and the News Television Awards across multiple years. Its journalists have won Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, and the channel's election coverage and documentaries have been recognised internationally. The India Today Conclave has become one of Asia's premier thought-leadership forums. The group's legacy of credible journalism, dating to the founding of India Today magazine in 1975, gives the channel an institutional reputation for seriousness that it has largely preserved through the more sensational phases of Indian television news.

Criticism and Controversies

Like all major Indian news channels, India Today has faced criticism for sensationalism, particularly in its coverage of crime stories and celebrity deaths, and for the stridency of some of its prime-time debates. Media critics have accused it of softening its criticism of the central government in recent years, a charge the group rejects. The channel has been pulled up by the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority on occasion. Its sting operations have sometimes been challenged in court. Nevertheless, the channel is generally regarded as one of the more professionally run and editorially balanced newsrooms in Indian television, and it has avoided the worst excesses associated with some competitors. Its journalism continues to be influential in setting the agenda for English-language public discourse in India.