Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and self-appointed champion of middle England, is considering launching a title in India. The group has been drawing up plans for the market since the beginning of the year. Associated executives who looked at the subcontinent 18 months ago were encouraged to look again by regulatory changes and marked growth in the urban Indian professional classes.
The Indian English language newspaper market, led by titles such as the Hindustan Times and the Times of India, is also seen as a growing sector with room for a new competitor.
Daily Mail & General Trust, owner of Associated, declined to comment yesterday but a senior Associated executive said staff would be travelling to India over the coming months to develop the project, dubbed the "internationalisation" of the Daily Mail. "Sitting here in London you can dream, but you need to work on the ground," said the executive.
The executive added that, despite the "internationalisation" strategy, there are no plans to launch the Daily Mail in India if Associated does indeed produce a newspaper for the Indian market. Nonetheless, the country's media industry has slowly drawn the attention of western companies, who have so far devoted much of their expansionist energy to China.
The rise of the Indian media market has been fuelled by growth in city populations, bringing increased English language literacy, newspaper readership and expansion of multichannel television. Until 1992, TV broadcasting was the sole preserve of the government, but now 10 new, privately owned news channels are launched every year. The Indian middle class has also grown in size and influence, and average annual income in the cities is now nearly $12,000 (£6,400), against $4,000 in rural areas.
Rupert Murdoch is the most high-profile western entrant in the market, with Star TV, where his son James, now chief executive of BSkyB, cut his teeth in senior management.
Government rules prevented Associated from seriously considering an Indian launch 18 months ago. However, the regulatory environment has since become more favourable towards foreign media ownership, Associated insiders say.
Independent News & Media, owner of the Independent, took advantage of the relaxed ownership regime last year by acquiring a stake in an Indian newspaper publisher. It paid 25.5m (£17.5m) for a 26% stake in Jagran Prakashan, the firm behind the Hindi-language Dainik Jagran, India's biggest selling daily with a circulation of about 2m.
Associated is the largest subsidiary of the DMGT. The group generates the majority of its revenues in the UK but it has become a big player in the Australian radio market.
· The Independent is to undergo a redesign less than a year after completing its switch from broadsheet to tabloid. It is increasing the number of columns on a page from six to seven and bringing supplements such as the Review into the main body of the paper.
