The History of The Times of India Newspaper

One of the most revered newspapers in India is The Times of India. It is a national daily which is published from all the major cities of the country. It is the largest selling English newspaper in the world and the third-largest circulated newspaper in India. The Times of India is the second oldest newspaper in India still in circulation. It is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned by the Sahu Jain family.

The journey of The Times of India started on 3rd November 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. It was originally published to cater to the British residents of Western India. It was published twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays under the direction of Raobahadur Narayan Dinanath Velkar, a Maharashtrian Reformist. It contained news from Britain and the world. The first editor of this bi-weekly publication was J.E Brennan, an Irish retired doctor and secretary of Bombay Chamber of Commerce. In the year 1840, the newspaper changed hand and George Buist became the editor. After a decade, in 1850 The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce became a daily newspaper. 

The new editor in 1859 was Robert Knight who merged The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce with two more popular newspapers – Bombay Standard and Chronicle of Western India and founded Bombay Times and Standard. On 28th September 1861, he again merged Bombay Times and Standard with Bombay Telegraph & Courier and renamed The Bombay Times and Standard to The Times of India. Robert Knight fought for free press rights from the restraints of the government and brought the newspaper to national prominence. At that time, it had a good circulation in India and Europe. In 1890, the newspaper printed 3000 copies daily and employed over 800 people.

In 1892, The Times of India was acquired by Thomas Bennett and Frank Morris Coleman through their joint-stock company Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The editor of The Times of India from 1907 to 1924 was Sir Stanley Reed. He was the longest-serving editor of the newspaper and was an important part of Indian media in the early 20th century. 

In 1946, while the British owners were leaving as India was becoming independent, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. was sold to Ramkrishna Dalmia of the famous industrial family Dalmias. Due to legal entanglement related to the acquisition which resulted in a conviction, the management of the business was entrusted by Ramkrishna Dalmia to his son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain. Due to various wrongdoing and business anomalies, with the order of Bombay High Court, a new board of directors were constituted under the Government in 1969. In 1976, during the Emergency in India, the Government finally transferred the ownership of the newspaper back to the Ashok Kumar Jain, son of Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain. 

The 21st century saw, the Times Group spread its wings with new publications catering to the modern readership. The Navbharat Times was founded in 1946 and The Economic Times and Maharashtra Times were already getting published since the 1960s. In 2006, Vijayanand Printers Limited was acquired and Vijay Karnataka newspaper was launched. The Mumbai Mirror came into existence in 2005 and Bangalore Mirror in 2007. 2012 saw the launch of Bengali daily Ei Samay and in 2014 Nav Gujarat Samay began to cater to the Gujarati population.

Advertisements go hand in hand with the development story of any newspaper. Since its inception in 1838, The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce published classified advertisements on the front page, a practice that continued up to 1939.  Early advertisements focused towards the higher class and as time passed and The Times of India began to represent the common man, advertisers availed the advertising services of The Times of India to reach out to their audience. With editions covering all over India, advertising in Times of India has become one of the most lucrative media of marketing for businesses and individuals.

In 2009, releaseMyAd came into existence. This website www.releasemyad.com was innovative and combining the power of internet technology, it allowed booking advertisements in The Times of India. With the accreditation of Indian Newspaper Society, releaseMyAd became an official newspaper ad booking partner of The Times of India. With relentless development, this website has brought ad booking in The Times of India to the doorstep of the advertiser. releaseMyAd not only allows classified ads but also display ad booking with a few clicks of the mouse.

To match up with the high reputation of The Times of India, releaseMyAd has excellent customer support which attends to every customer’s queries and issues and provides end to end solution of ad booking including creative designing and budgeting.releaseMyAd customer support team can be reached through the Phone/ WhatsApp No. 9830629298 or email id book@releasemyad.com. Online chat support is also available on the website 24*7.

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