Dainik Bhaskar lines up Rs 145 crore for three more Gujarat editions

The group, which has already invested Rs 100 crore in the Ahmedabad edition, will put in an additional Rs 145 crore in the next one year for the new editions. The new editions will take Divya Bhaskar to other parts of the state also.

The daily's circulation is so far confined to Ahmedabad and nine districts of north Gujarat.

"With the success of Divya Bhaskar's Ahmedabad edition which has a combined circulation of above 4.70 lakh, we are now planning to launch three more editions in the next year, "Girish Agarwal, managing director of the group, said.

The Gujarati daily has a circulation of 2.90 lakh in Ahmedabad, he said.

"In March, 2004, the Surat edition will be kicked off while in the second phase, Rajkot and Vadodara editions will be launched by December next year. With these three editions, we will be able to cover the entire Gujarat," Agarwal said.

The Ahmedabad edition reaches Gandhinagar, Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Anand, Kheda and Surendranagar.

The proposed Rajkot edition will face stiff competition from local vernacular papers in the Saurashtra region, mostly eveningers such as Akila, Aajkal and Phulchhab.

The combined circulation of these three is over three lakh. "We took on the two top dailies in Ahmedabad and are ready to compete with the eveningers. We may adopt a different market strategy there," an official said.

The Vadodara edition will cater to the readers in Bharuch, Nadiad and Anand.

Agarwal said, "We had earmarked Rs 140 crore for our Ahmedabad edition. Of this, we have already spent Rs 100 crore and the remaining Rs 40 crore would be spent in the next calendar year.