HT MEDIA LTD.

The company history sections lists out major chronological events that happened to the company.

Our Company was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 on December 3, 2002 as HT Media
Limited with its registered office at Hindustan Times House, 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi,
India.
Transfer of the Media Business
We acquired the media business of HTL, our Promoter, through a slump sale on a going concern basis,
pursuant to two business purchase agreements, both dated August 15, 2003, the media business
comprising of the entire printing and publishing undertakings of HTL in all locations except at New
Delhi, and the publishing undertaking of HTL at New Delhi, respectively, were acquired by us at a
consideration comprising cash and issuance of Equity Shares as stated in therein.
Major events for the media business:
Year Event
1924 Hindustan Times, English daily was launched.
1927 The Hindustan Times Limited was incorporated.
1936 Hindustan, a Hindi daily was launched.
1960 A Hindi monthly magazine, Kadambini was launched.
1964 A children's monthly magazine, Nandan was launched.
1997 News website "hindustantimes.com" was launched.
1997- 2003 The number of printing locations was increased from three to fifteen.
2003 The media business of the HTL was transferred to our Company.
2004 Installation of a modern printing press in Greater NOIDA in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.
2006 -HT Media Ltd has announced that The Times of India Group & the Company have signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU)(Subject to Board approval) October 03, 2006 to establish a 50:50
Joint venture.
-Ht Media Limited has informed that Mr. Dinesh Mittal has taken over as Vice President - Legal, Tax
and Company Secretary of the Company with effect from November 16, 2006.
2007 -HT Media Ltd announced the launch of mint, a world-class business newspaper produced in
partnership with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
-HT Media Ltd has appointed Shri Ajay Relan as an Independent Director on the Board of Directors of
the Company w.e.f. May 24, 2007.
2008 - HT Media Ltd has informed that Shri. Roger Greville have been appointed as Non-executive
Independent Director on the Board of the Company w.e.f. August 13, 2008.
- HT Media Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on
September 18, 2008, has appointed Smt. Shobhana Bhartia as Chairperson of the Company with
immediate effect.
-HT Media launches new mobile solutions venture
-HT Media, BURDA announce joint venture to tap media services market
2009 -HT Media demerges its "Hindi Business"
-HT Media - Launch of 'Hindustan' newspaper from Bareilly (U.P.)
2010 - HT Media, publishing group, unveiled a newspaper the 'Gurgaon First' for Gurgaon residents, in a
bid to strengthen its presence in the National Capital Region area.
Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times

The 28 March 2010 front page of

Hindustan Times

Type Daily newspaper

Format Broadsheet

Owner HT Media Ltd

Editor-in-chief Mr Sanjoy Narayan

Founded 1924
 Political alignment Centrist[1]

Language English

18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New

Headquarters Delhi 110001
India

Circulation 1,143,000 Daily

OCLC number 231696742

Official website Hindustantimes.com

Hindustan Times (HT) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with
roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ("Hindustan" being a historical name
for Northern India).

Hindustan Times is the flagship publication of HT Media Ltd. In 2008 the newspaper reported its
circulation as being over 1.14 million according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, ranking it
as the third largest daily English newspaper in India. The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010
revealed that HT has a readership of (34.67 lakhs), placing it as the second most widely read
English Newspaper in India after The Times of India. It has a wide reach in northern India, with
simultaneous editions from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Bhopal and
Chandigarh. The print location of Jaipur was discontinued from June 2006. HT launched a youth
daily, HT Next, in 2004. The Mumbai edition was launched on 14 July 2005 and the Kolkata
edition was launched on early 2000.

Other sister publications of Hindustan Times are Mint (English business daily), Hindustan (Hindi
Daily), Nandan (monthly children's magazine) and Kadambani (monthly literary magazine). The
media group owns a radio channel, Fever, and organises an annual Luxury Conference which has
featured speakers like designer Diane von Fürstenberg, shoemaker Christian Louboutin, Gucci
CEO Robert Polet and Cartier MD Patrick Normand.

Hindustan Times is owned by the KK Birla branch of the Birla family.

History
Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the
Akali Movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab. S Mangal Singh Gill (Tesildar) and S.
Chanchal Singh (Jandiala, Jullundur) were made in charge of the newspaper. Pt Madan Mohan
Malayia and Master Tara Singh were among the members of the Managing Committee. The
Managing Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri.

K. M. Panikkar was its first editor with Devdas Gandhi (son of Mahatma Gandhi) on the editor's
panel. The opening ceremony was performed by Mahatma Gandhi on 15 September 1924. The
first issue was published from Naya Bazar, Delhi (now Swami Sharda Nand Marg). It contained
writings and articles from C. F. Andrews, St. Nihal Singh, Maulana Mohammad Ali, C. R.
Reddy (Dr. Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy), T. L. Vaswani, Ruchi Ram Sahni, Bernard Haton,
Harinder Nath Chattopadhyaya, Dr Saifuddin Kichlu and Rubi Wasto,n etc.

It has its roots in the Indian independence movement of the first half of the twentieth century and
even faced the noted "Hindustan Times Contempt Case (August-November, 1941)" at Allahabad
High Court. It was edited at times by many important people in India, including Devdas Gandhi
and Khushwant Singh. Sanjoy Narayan, has been appointed the editor in chief of the paper and
was due to take over in August 2008.

Recently the editorial page has seen a major makeover and has been named "comment" to bring
in more flexibility and some-what less seriousness to the page.

HT Mumbai edition
HT Mumbai has an eight-page daily lifestyle supplement (in tabloid format) called HT Cafe. It
has its education supplement called Horizons on Wednesdays. The paper also comes with a
magazine on Sundays called Brunch. The Mumbai edition is managed by Mohit Ahuja, an
alumnus of NMIMS, Bombay. The resident editor in Mumbai is Soumya Bhattacharya.

Ownership
The Delhi-based English newspaper Hindustan Times is part of the KK Birla group and managed
by Shobhana Bhartia, daughter of the industrialist KK Birla and granddaughter of GD Birla. It is
owned by HT Media Ltd. The KK Birla group owns a 69 per cent stake in HT Media, currently
valued at Rs 834 crore. When Shobhana Bhartia joined Hindustan Times in 1986, she was the
first woman chief executive of a national newspaper. Shobhana has been nominated as a Rajya
Sabha MP from Congress Party. Along with Hindustan Times, HT Media owns Desimartini,
Fever 104 FM, amd Mint (newspaper).

Supplements
• Brunch: A weekly magazine, distributed every Sunday, for the last few years. Includes
entries by noted columnists like Vir Sanghvi, Seema Sharma, and a cover story. This very
popular feature of the newspaper also includes an interview in the end by a famous
celebrity.
 • HT City / Cafe: A popular daily supplement, freely distributed with the newspaper,
includes commentary on lighter news, updates of happenings around the city in which it
is distributed, coverage of local parties and celebrity gossip.

• HT Horizons: A supplement providing information to students across the country help in

the form of sample career options, career counselling, latest campus news, psychological
counselling etc.

Awards
HT has a good track record at the IFRA and has won several awards this year.

Columinsts
• Vir Sanghvi: Vir Sanghvi is an ex-editor of Hindustan Times. He writes two columns
every Sunday, one entitled Counter Point for the main paper and "Rude Food" for
Brunch, a weekly supplement. Hindustan Times was used as a forum in Radiagate
scandal by Vir Sanghvi to promote interests of Mukesh Ambani. This has generated a
massive debate on the questions of journalistic ethics with several leading personalities
calling for the removal of Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt. Subsequently Vir Sanghvi, who
was Advisory Editorial Director of HT Media Ltd, has been divested of his editorial
designation and re-designated as Advisor, HT Media. His columns have also been
suspended.

• Karan Thapar: Currently the president of Infotainment Television and one of India's
noted television commentators and interviewers, Karan Thapar writes the weekly column
"Sunday Sentiments".

• Manas Chakravarty: Capital market analyst for Mint. Writes weekly column "Loose
Canon" on Sundays'.

• Poonam Saxena: She is the editor of Brunch, the Hindustan Times Sunday magazine. She
does a weekly TV review column, "Small Screen".

• Indrajit Hazra: A novelist and a senior editor at Hindustan Times, Hazra writes the
weekly column "Red Herring".

• Sonal Kalra: An author and editor of HT City, the daily entertainment and lifestyle
supplement of Hindustan Times, Writes the weekly column "A Calmer You".

• Khushwant Singh: An editorial writer whose column "With Malice towards One and All"
appears in the Saturday edition.

• Barkha Dutt: Journalist and NDTV Group editor. Writes a fortnightly column.
 •

About Us
HT Media found its beginning in 1924 when its flagship newspaper, Hindustan Times was inaugurated by Mahatma
Gandhi. HT Media (BSE, NSE) has today grown to become one of India's largest media companies.

Produced by an editorial team known for its quality, innovation and integrity, Hindustan Times (English newspaper)
and Hindustan (Hindi newspaper through a subsidiary Hindustan Media Ventures Limited), have a combined daily
readership base of 12.7 million (based on round 2 of Indian Readership Survey 2009) to their credit. Both dailies
enjoy a strong brand recognition among readers as well as advertisers.

To cater to the large readership base, HT Media operates 19 printing facilities across India with an installed capacity
of 1.5 million copies per hour.

In addition to Hindustan Times, HT Media also publishes a national business newspaper, Mint. Mint is a one-of-its-
kind newspaper in the sense that the company has an exclusive agreement with the Wall Street Journal to publish
Journal-branded news and information in India. Mint is today the second-largest business newspaper in India with
presence in the key markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Pune, Kolkata and now Ahmedabad
too.

HT Media has also made its foray into electronic media. Diversifying its ambit of operations, the company in a
consulting partnership with Virgin Radio, has launched the FM radio channel - Fever 104. Currently available in Delhi,
Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, Fever 104 has established a strong presence as being one of the most vibrant
channels on air. In a short span, the channel's rise has been meteoric considering its position in Mumbai and
Bengaluru at No. 1 and in Delhi as the No. 2 station on the popularity charts.

Internet businesses of HT Media incorporated under Firefly e-ventures, operate leading web portals
Hindustantimes.com and livemint.com in the general and business news categories respectively. The company's job
portal Shine.com which has received high appreciation from consumers and industry for its innovative design and
usability crossed 5 million registrations. Desimartini.com - a social networking site is growing phenomenally. The
company has recently launched an education portal www.HTCampus.com aimed at students passing out of school
and college to help them take the right decision about their higher education.

HT Media reported FY 2010 total annual revenue grew by 5% to reach Rs. 1,454 crore. The circulation revenue
posted a robust growth of 19% on account of improved cover price realisation and increased circulation. The
advertisement revenue recorded a modest growth of 1%. Reflecting an increased acceptance amongst advertisers,
the advertising volumes increased by 17%. Radio vertical outscored others by posting a healthy revenue growth of
52%, taking its revenue to Rs. 43 crore. Riding on the improved ad volumes and realisations, the Radio business
turned EBITDA positive in the fourth quarter of FY 10.

Values
HT Media – A rich heritage to live up to! Organizational values are the foundation stones on which the organization’s
image is built. These help the company realize its organizational goals and in turn transform lives. These values are
intended to infuse an infectious energy, professionalism and a sense of true empowerment to the workplace.

The solid edifice on which HT Media stands tall today was built on high ideals and

values. The company has its roots in the independence movement in the first half of the twentieth century, a cause to
empower the nation. We are adaptive to the changing times, while remaining steadfast to the values rooted in our
culture.

Our values drive us towards our goals of expansion, diversification and excellence. These values define our
philosophy of operations, guide our important decisions and determine our commitment and achievement.

The values personified by HT Media are:

Courage

To encourage the ability that meets opposition with skill, competence and fortitude.

Responsibility

Be accountable for results in line with the company’s objectives, strategies and values.

Empowerment

Support our people and give them the freedom to perform and to provide our readers with information to influence
their environment.

Continuous Self Renewal

Determination to constantly re-examine and re-invent ourselves for further innovation and creativity.

People Centric

People are our greatest asset. We invest in them expect a lot and know that the rest will follow
Vision

HT Media strives to be a visionary organization and not an organization with a vision. In our endeavour to have a
shared understanding, alignment and commitment, we

have derived our company’s vision that sets the course and empowers people to take action.
HISTORY

The Hindustan Times was the brainchild of the Akalis who felt that a newspaper in English would enable them to
reach an audience other than the Punjabi-reading one. This was in the year 1922. From the outset the newspaper
was set up to oppose the British. The Hindustan Times finally came into being on September 1924 and was
inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. The newspaper was to become a

premier nationalist newspaper of the capital in the turbulent years preceding independence. From a humble
beginning in a three-storey building, the company has expanded its operations from print to other media channels like
radio, internet, events and marketing, and strategic partnerships, as part of its endeavour to establish itself as a giant
media conglomerate in the present times.

September 26, 1924

This date marked the august beginnings of Hindustan Times with Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation
inaugurating the newspaper.

1927

Hindustan Times, was reborn as Hindustan Times Ltd., a limited liability company.

1936

The hindi daily Hindustan was launched, which remains the dominant newspaper in the core hindi belt of northern
India.

1937

Devdas Gandhi was appointed the Managing Editor of the newspaper and remained the managing editor till his death
in 1957.

1942

The Hindustan Times was one of the few newspapers that stopped publishing the newspaper for four and a half
months as it refused to accept the British imposition of censorship on all newspapers.

1947

The year India gained its freedom, was also the year Hindustan Times attained the status of being the dominant
newspaper in Delhi.

1957

The newspaper circulation grew from 58,693 copies to 144,287 in 1970 after KK Birla took over the mantle from GD
Birla.

1960

The hindi literary magazine Kadambini was launched.

1964

The group started actively targeting the youth of India and launched the Nandan magazine.

1991

At the start of liberalization of India, Hindustan Times moved to becoming an autonomous power center in a mature
democracy.

1999

The Hindustan Times celebrated its platinum anniversary.

2000

With a focus on localization, five new editions for Calcutta, Bhopal, Ranchi, Chandigarh and Jaipur were launched.

2003

The media business of was de-merged and incorporated under HT Media Ltd.

2004

HT Media Ltd was listed as a public company and attracted external funding.

2005

Hindustan Times successfully entered the Mumbai market with a refreshingly new product and content mix.

2006

Fever 104 FM is launched, in technical collaboration with the Virgin Group. Hindustan was relaunched re-establishing
the company's prominent presence in the regional news space.

2007

Mint, the business paper in partnership with the Wall Street Journal was launched in Delhi and Mumbai. In the
internet space, Hindustantimes.com was relaunched and Livemint.com was introduced.

2008
Firefly e-Ventures, an HT Media Company launched its first portal for job seekers, Shine.com; and a social
networking website Desimartini.com. HT Media also entered the Mobile space with 54242 in partnership with
velti.com

Awards
• Print
• Journalism
• Others

Hindi Hindustan - Greater Noida recieves INCQC Club membership for 2008-10
Hindustan Times - Greater Noida recieves INCQC Club membership for 2008-10

Kolkata plant gets SNAP Award - 2008

Lucknow plant gets SNAP Award - 2008

• Print
• Journalism
• Others

K C Kulish International Award 2008

Sanskriti Award for Journalism

Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards

K C Kulish International Award

Asia Media Awards 2008

The Statesman award for rural reporting

• Print
• Journalism
• Others

Hindustantimes.com wins PC World Web Awards for best technology usage for 2nd time in a row

PACE gets President’s Pat

Letter of appreciation from Mr. Timothy Balding, Director General, World Association of
Newspapers (WAN)

Newspapers win back young readers

Education Friendly Media award

Rotary Club of Calcutta honours PACE

• Partners
Burda

Redmatch

The Wall Street Journal

Velti

Virgin
IRS – Indian Readership Survey

TOP 10 ENGLISH DAILIES

Rank Newspaper IRS 2009 R2 IRS 2010 Q1
The Times Of
1 71.42 70.35
India
Hindustan
2 33.47 34.67
Times
3 The Hindu 21.69 21.59
4 The Telegraph 11.5 12.04
Deccan
5 11.52 11.24
Chronicle
6 Mumbai Mirror 8.1 8.31
The Economic
7 7.57 7.6
Times
Daily News &
8 7.36 7.17
Analysis
9 The Tribune 5.96 6
The New Indian
10 5.63 5.37
Express
(All figures are in lakhs; IRS 2009 R2: IRS 2009 Round 2; IRS 2010 Q1:
IRS 2010 Quarter 1)