The Times Group

2024-04-12T09:06:12Z

49.207.225.153: /* Television channels */

{{short description|Mass media conglomerate in India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Bennett Coleman and Company Limited
| logo = The Times Group logo.png
| type = [[Private company|Private]]
| foundation = {{start date and age|1838|November|4|p=y|df=y}}
| founder =
| location = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]]
| key_people = {{plainlist|
*''Vacant''<br />([[Chairperson]])
*[[Samir Jain]]<br />([[Vice-Chairman]])
*[[Vineet Jain]]<br />([[Managing Director]])
*S Sivakumar<br />([[Chief Executive Officer]])}}
| industry = {{plainlist|
*[[Mass media]]
}}
| products = {{hlist|[[Publishing]] |[[broadcasting]] |[[radio]] |[[film]]s |[[entertainment]] |[[web portal]]s}}
| revenue = {{increase}} {{INRConvert|6986|c}} (FY 2019)<ref name=10K>{{cite news |url=https://www.exchange4media.com/media-others-news/bccls-advertising-revenue-grows-17-in-fy19-100974.html|website=exchange4media.com |title=BCCL's advertising revenue grows 1.7% in FY19 |date= 21 November 2019|last1=Saini |first1=Sonam }}</ref>
| net_income = {{decrease}} {{INRConvert|153|c}} (FY 2019)<ref name=10K/>
| num_employees = 11,000 (2014)<ref name="FY">{{cite news |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/times-group-may-go-for-an-ipo-in-the-long-run-112100600010_1.html | title=Times Group may go for an IPO 'in the long run' |newspaper=[[Business Standard]]|date=25 January 2013|access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref>
| owner = [[Sahu Jain family]]
| subsid = {{plainlist|
*[[Times Internet]]
*[[Bennett University]]
*[[Times Music]]
* Times Business Solutions Limited
* [[Indiatimes shopping]]
* Times Guaranty Ltd
* Times Publishing House Limited}}
| website = {{URL|https://www.timesofindia.com/|timesofindia.com}}
}}

'''Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited''',<ref>{{cite web |title=Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.: Private Company Information |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=7604379 |website=Bloomberg |access-date=30 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=BENNETT COLEMAN AND COMPANY LIMITED |url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/in/U22120MH1913PLC000391 |website=[[opencorporates.com]] |access-date=30 July 2018}}</ref> (abbreviated as '''B.C.C.L.''' and [[Trade name|d/b/a]] '''The Times Group'''), is an Indian [[media conglomerate]] headquartered in [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]].{{r|FT}} The company remains a [[Family business|family-owned business]] with [[Sahu Jain family]] owning a majority stake in The Times Group.

== History ==
On 3 November 1838 the ''Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce'' was first published, a predecessor of what would become ''The Times of India''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/22658617|title=The Bombay times and journal of commerce, 1838–1859|publisher=National Library of Australia|year=1838|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/miscellaneous/Bombay-Times/articleshow/55223939.cms|title=Bombay Times – Times of India ►|work=The Times of India|access-date=2018-07-09}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstversions.com/2016/11/the-times-of-india.html|title=The Times of India|website=www.firstversions.com|access-date=2018-07-09}}</ref> While starting as a biweekly paper, it was converted to a daily in 1850 and in 1859 the paper was merged with two other papers into the ''Bombay Times and Standard'' under editor [[Robert Knight (editor)|Robert Knight]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mapsofindia.com/on-this-day/3rd-november-1838-the-times-of-india-the-newspaper-was-founded|title=3rd November 1838: The Times of India, the newspaper, was founded|website=www.mapsofindia.com|date=3 November 2013|access-date=2018-07-09}}</ref> Two years later, in 1861, the paper got a more national scope with the title ''The Times of India''. Subsequently the paper saw its ownership change several times until 1892 when an English journalist named [[Thomas Jewell Bennett]] along with Frank Morris Coleman (who later drowned in the 1915 sinking of the [[SS Persia (1900)|SS ''Persia'']]) acquired the newspaper through their new joint stock company, ''Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd''. (BCCL).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> At the time, some 800 people were employed by the paper.

The company, by that time consolidated in the Times of India Group, was taken over from its British owners in 1946 by industrialist Ramkrishna Dalmia.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8aGAwAAQBAJ&q=Seth+Ramakrishna+Dalmia+times+of+india&pg=PA20|title=Practising Journalism: Values, Constraints, Implications|last=Rajan|first=Nalini|date=2005-08-09|publisher=SAGE Publications India|isbn=9788132102618|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv7Uk0UcdM8C&pg=PA112|title=Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle|last=Kasbekar|first=Asha|date=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851096367|language=en}}</ref>

Ramkrishna Dalmia (7 April 1893 – 26 September 1978) was a pioneer industrialist and founder of the Dalmia-Jain group or [[Dalmia Group]] and The Times Group. The name is variously written as Ram Krishan Dalmia and Ram Kishan Dalmia. In 1947, Dalmia engineered the acquisition of the media giant Bennett, Coleman by transferring monies from a bank and an insurance company of which he was the Chairman. In 1955, this came to the attention of the socialist parliamentarian [[Feroze Gandhi]] who was part of the ruling [[Indian National Congress|Congress party]] headed by his estranged father-in-law [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]. In December 1955, he raised the matter in the [[Parliament of India|Parliament]], documenting extensively the various fund transfers and intermediaries through which the acquisition had been financed. The case was investigated by the [[Vivian Bose]] Commission of Inquiry.

In the court case that followed, where he was represented by the leading British attorney [[Dingle Foot|Sir Dingle Mackintosh Foot]], he was sentenced to two years in [[Tihar Jail]]. But for most of the jail term he managed to spend in hospital. Upon his release his son-in-law [[Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain]] to whom he had entrusted running of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. rebuffed his efforts to resume command of the company {{citation needed|date=April 2021}}.

During his time in prison the company was run by his son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain. Jain would buy the company a few years later and the company would be primarily run by his family in the years after.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/citizens-jain|title=Citizens Jain|last=Auletta|first=Ken|date=2012-10-08|work=The New Yorker|access-date=2018-07-09|language=en-US}}</ref> The company expanded its presence in the [[Media of India|Indian media]] sphere by founding different papers and local editions of ''The Times of India''.<ref name=":1" />

==Decline and revival==
[[File:The Times of India 1988 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|The Times of India 1988 stamp of India]]
The Times of India press published a number of influential English (e.g. [[Illustrated Weekly of India]] 1880-1993) and Hindi magazines (e.g. [[Dharmyug]] 1949-1997, Sarika, [[Dinaman]] 1965-1990s, [[Parag (magazine)|Parag]] 1958-1990s), edited by distinguished authors including [[Khushwant Singh]], [[Dharmveer Bharti]], [[Agyeya]] and [[Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena]]. However, the organisation faced financial difficulties, and most of them were closed down during the 1990s.

The sons of [[Ashok Kumar Jain|Sahu Ashok Jain]], Sahu [[Samir Jain]] and [[Vineet Jain]] are credited with reviving the financial success of the group with newer and more profitable ventures.<ref>[https://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/cover-story/bennett-coleman-and-co-among-100-year-old-indian-companies/story/16498.html Just in times Shamni Pande, Business Today, July 10, 2011]</ref><ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/citizens-jain Citizens Jain, Why India’s newspaper industry is thriving, Ken Auletta, The New Yorker, October 1, 2012]</ref>

==Assets==

===Publications===
* [[The Times of India]], largest circulation of any English-language newspaper in the world, with 2.8 million copies.<ref name="FT">{{ cite news | title=Uber in tie-up with Times of India digital arm | url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c6c4392-d0a9-11e4-a840-00144feab7de.html#axzz3VKpyrnhz | date=23 March 2015 | newspaper=Financial Times | author=James Crabtree, Mumbai | access-date=24 March 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Details of most circulated publications for the audit period July – December 2013 |url=http://www.auditbureau.org/news/view/17 | publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations | date=21 May 2014 | access-date=24 March 2015 }}</ref>
* [[The Economic Times]]
* [[Navbharat Times]]
* [[Maharashtra Times]]
* [[Ei Samay]]
* [[Mumbai Mirror]]
* [[Vijaya Karnataka]]

=== Television channels ===
The Times Group owns the following channels.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesnownews.com/info/timesnetwork-trai-value-package/337775|title=Times – Movies and News Pack – Times Network News HD Premium Pack Price and Channel List|last=TimesNow|website=TimesNow|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref>

* [[Times Now]]
* [[ET Now]] (HD soon)
* [[Mirror Now]] (HD soon)
* Times Now World
* Times Now Navbharat HD
* ET Now Swadesh<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rajesh|first=Author: Srividya|date=2021-05-20|title=Times Network To Launch Hindi Business News Channel, ET Now Swadesh|url=https://www.iwmbuzz.com/television/news/times-network-launch-hindi-business-news-channel-et-now-swadesh/2021/05/20|access-date=2021-08-29|website=IWMBuzz|language=en}}</ref> (launching soon)
* [[Zoom (Indian TV channel)|Zoom]] (Discontinued soon)
* [[Romedy Now]]
* [[Movies Now]]
* [[MNX]]
* [[MN+]] (SD soon)

=== Times Business Solutions Limited ===
{{Infobox company
| name = TBS Solution – A Complete Business Solution
| logo =
| type = Business Service & Solution
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| foundation = 2004
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| homepage = http://www.tbsl.in/
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}}

'''Times Business Solutions – A division of Times Internet Limited''' is a limited company, wholly owned by Bennett Coleman Company Limited (The Times Group). TBS develops [[web sites]] within areas such as [[recruitment]], [[real estate]] and [[Marriage websites|matrimonials]].

TBS started as a division of BCCL in 2004 with the mission to create an exchange for job seekers and employers on the internet. With the growth of internet attaining rapid speed and being a highly profitable venture, Times Business Solutions – A division of Times Internet Limited was born as the "''Internet Initiatives''" of BCCL. Times Group, others put $20 million into [[Square Yards]] in Sep 2019.

===Times Internet===
{{Main|Times Internet}}

'''Times Internet''' is an [[India]]n company which owns, operates and invests in various [[Internet|Internet-led products, services and technology]].

===Radio Mirchi===
{{Main|Radio Mirchi}}
'''Radio Mirchi''' is a nationwide network of private [[FM radio]] stations in [[India]].

== See also ==
* [[:Category:Publications of The Times Group|Publications of The Times Group]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-10-07|title=Lesser known facts about Rhea Chakraborty|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/photos/entertainment/rhea-chakraborty-lesser-known-facts-about-the-actress/photostory/78530871.cms|access-date=2020-10-07|website=Mumbai Mirror|language=en}}</ref>

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |last1=Auletta |first1=Ken |author-link1=Ken Auletta |title=Citizens Jain – Why India's newspaper industry is thriving.|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/citizens-jain |website=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=30 July 2018 |date=8 October 2012}}
* {{cite web |last1=Thakurta |first1=Paranjoy Guha |author-link1=Paranjoy Guha Thakurta |title=The Times, the Jains, and BCCL |url=http://www.thehoot.org/media-watch/media-business/the-times-the-jains-and-bccl-6425 |website=The Hoot |access-date=30 July 2018 |date=11 November 2012}}
* {{cite web |title=Gigantic List of Companies Owned by The TIMES Group |url=https://www.melodyfuse.com/2019/09/17/gigantic-list-of-companies-owned-by-the-times-group.html |website=MelodyFuse |access-date=23 September 2019 |date=17 September 2019}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|The Times Group}}
* {{Official website}}
{{The Times Group}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Times Group}}
[[Category:The Times Group| ]]
[[Category:Radio broadcasting companies of India]]
[[Category:Newspaper companies of India]]
[[Category:Companies based in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1838]]
[[Category:1838 establishments in British India]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1838]]
[[Category:Indian brands]]
[[Category:Publications of The Times Group|.]]
[[Category:Entertainment companies of India]]
[[Category:Film production companies based in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Television broadcasting companies of India]]
[[Category:Television production companies of India]]
[[Category:Television stations in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Entertainment companies established in 1838]]
[[Category:Television networks in India]]
[[Category:Television stations in Delhi]]
[[Category:Television stations in New Delhi]]
[[Category:Mass media companies based in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1838]]

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The Times Group