Prameya

About Prameya

Prameya is an Odia-language daily newspaper published from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, by Summa Real Media Pvt. Ltd. Launched in December 2011, the paper entered one of India's most competitive regional-language markets and, within a few years, established itself among the largest-circulated Odia dailies, with print editions spread across the state. Its official website and e-paper editions are available at prameya.com.

Founding and launch

Prameya was founded in December 2011 by Supriya Vallala and is published by Summa Real Media Pvt. Ltd. The first copy of the newspaper was released by Ramakant Rath, the noted Odia poet and former chief secretary of Odisha, lending the launch considerable cultural weight in the state. The paper's early publisher was the late Dr. Ganeswar Mishra (1942–2015). From its first day, Prameya positioned itself as an independent Odia daily aimed at readers across Odisha, entering a field then dominated by long-established rivals such as Sambad, Samaja, Dharitri and Pragativadi. The launch year also gave the paper its Registrar of Newspapers for India registration, RNI number ODIODI/2011/37619, with publication recorded from Khurda district in Odisha. Its listed cover price at the time was Rs. 4 daily and Rs. 5 on Sundays.

Ownership and management

Prameya is published by Summa Real Media Pvt. Ltd., and its founding is credited to Supriya Vallala. Manoj Ranjan Nayak is identified as the Managing Director of Summa Real Media Pvt. Ltd. Summa Real Media is itself part of a larger Odisha business conglomerate that includes SOA University — with nine degree-granting schools and colleges covering engineering, medicine, pharmacy, business, nursing, biotechnology, science, humanities, environment, nanotechnology, materials science, agriculture and law — along with SUM Hospital and the community radio station SOA 90.4 FM. This institutional backing gave the newspaper a resource base unusual among newcomers to the Odia print market. The driving force and promoter of the conglomerate is Dr. Prof. Manoj Ranjan Nayak, and the group editor of Summa Real Media has been reported as Shri Gopalkrishna Mohapatra. RNI records list Pravat Ranjan Nayak as publisher and Sri Gopal Krishna Mohapatra as editor of the paper.

Editions and print footprint

Prameya's multi-edition footprint covers much of Odisha. Its editions are published from Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Angul, Balasore, Cuttack, Jajpur, Jeypore, Kbk, Kendrapada, Kendujhar, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Rourkela and Sambalpur — fourteen edition centres spanning coastal, central and western Odisha. Printing is carried out at multiple locations, including the Summa Real Media premises at Jagamara, Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar, an industrial estate at Baraipali in Sambalpur, and a unit at Panikoili in Jajpur district, allowing editions to reach distant districts with early-morning delivery. The breadth of this edition network is one reason the paper is counted among the largest circulated Odia dailies. Its principal publication place is Bhubaneswar in Khordha district, the state capital.

Editorial coverage and content

Prameya covers state politics, national and international news, business, sports, culture and entertainment from an Odisha-first perspective. Its pages carry reporting from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack alongside district-level news from across the state, with correspondents filing from the edition centres and their surrounding areas. As an Odia daily serving a state where the mother tongue is central to public life, the paper gives prominent play to issues such as governance, agriculture, education, employment and natural calamities — the cyclones and floods that periodically strike the Odisha coast feature heavily in its coverage. The paper describes its political alignment as independent, and its news pages maintain a mix of hard reporting and features aimed at both urban and rural readers.

Prameya News7, the television sibling

In 2015 the newspaper company launched its own television arm, Prameya News7, a 24-hour Odia-language cable and satellite news channel headquartered in Bhubaneswar. The channel operates under the aegis of Summa Real Media and is closely associated with the print title. It quickly built a significant audience in Odisha and was ranked among the leading Odia news channels in the state. News7 became known for investigative and sting-based reporting, including the exposure of a fake godman in 2015 — Sarathi Baba — which contributed substantially to the channel's rise in popularity, as well as operations on the dal scam, casting-couch practices in the Odia film industry, the sand mafia and extortion. The print and television brands cross-promote each other, and the Prameya masthead is carried across both platforms.

Supplements and special booklets

Prameya has cultivated a reputation as a paper with an educational bent. It regularly distributes themed booklets along with the newspaper: 'Shikshya Plus', an education booklet aimed at students preparing for competitive entrance examinations; 'Juhar', a religious booklet distributed on Mondays; and a rotating set of Friday booklets including 'Women Plus', 'Swasthya Plus' (health) and 'Cine Plus' (cinema), along with 'Ravibaar Plus' on Sundays. These additions broaden the paper's appeal across age groups — students, women, the health-conscious and film enthusiasts — and give advertisers targeted vehicles alongside the main newspaper. The supplement strategy mirrors the practice of larger national dailies and has been part of Prameya's effort to deepen reader engagement beyond hard news.

The Nabakalebara Janmat mission

During the Nabakalebara of 2015 — the once-in-several-years ritual renewal of the wooden idols at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, an event of enormous religious significance in Odisha — Prameya launched a public-opinion mission titled 'Nabakalebara Janmat Prameya Prayasa'. The mission's aim was to track and record the views of ordinary people on the preservation of old customs and traditions associated with Nabakalebara, at a time when the conduct of the festival had generated widespread public debate in the state. The initiative demonstrated the newspaper's interest in participatory journalism and in aligning its editorial identity with the cultural pulse of Odisha, particularly around the Jagannath culture that anchors the state's identity.

Digital presence and e-paper

Prameya maintains a digital edition through its e-paper portal, epaper.prameyanews.com, where all fourteen editions can be read online free of charge without registration. The group's English-language web presence runs through prameyanews.com, while the News7 channel operates at prameyanews7.com. The main news website, prameya.com, carries the day's reporting from Odisha and beyond, updated through the news cycle. Like other Odia dailies, Prameya's digital editions extend its reach to Odia readers living outside the state and abroad, complementing the print distribution network.

Registration and print details

The paper is registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under RNI number ODIODI/2011/37619 as a daily newspaper printed in Odia and published from Khurda in Odisha. Its printing addresses on record include the Summa Real Media facility at 662 Jagamara, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar-751030, a unit at II/3 Industrial Estate, Baraipali, Sambalpur-768005, and a unit at Panikoili near Soti on NH 16 in Jajpur district. The publication place is recorded as Summa Real Media Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar. These multi-point printing arrangements support the paper's fourteen-edition structure across the state.

Place in Odisha's media landscape

Odisha's Odia-language newspaper market is among India's most crowded regional press fields, with historic titles like the Samaja — founded in 1919 during the freedom movement — competing with Sambad, Dharitri, Pragativadi and Samaya for readers. Prameya entered this field late, in 2011, and its rise to one of the largest-circulated Odia dailies within a few years was notable in the industry. Analysts of the Odia press attribute its growth to the combination of a wide edition network, the supplement strategy, the visibility of the News7 television channel, and the institutional strength of the Summa/SOA group. For readers, Prameya offers an Odia-language daily with statewide reporting depth, while for the industry it represents one of the more successful late entrants in Indian regional-language print of the past decade.