India's newspaper business burgeons

While print journalism is on the decline virtually everywhere else in the world, India’s newspaper industry is booming. With eight out of 10 Indians lacking internet access, paper delivery is the most practical news option—especially when it costs just 120 rupees ($2) a month.

Dainik Bhaskar, or Daily Sun, the most popular Hindi newspaper, sells about 3.57 million copies daily, with more than 82,000 other papers in Hindi, English, and various regional languages. Actual readership greatly exceeds this number, since several people usually share a single copy.

Thanks to a significant push for education, India’s literacy rate has surged from 12 to 74 percent in the last five decades. Millions of these freshly minted literati favor the paper as their primary information source.

“In India, the credibility of newspapers and the written word is way beyond that of the television news channels,” noted P.N. Vasanti, director of the Center for Media Studies in New Delhi.

As rapid urbanization erodes traditional family networks, classified advertisements double as marital matchmakers. Though technically abolished, India’s caste system still plays a major role in arranging marriage alliances. Parents go to great lengths to ensure their child’s spouse comes from a good family with an appropriately matched social standing. The regional paper’s classified matrimonial ads simplify this pedigree check and are a real revenue-spinner.

To those in lower-class communities, newspapers unlock a window into the wider world. Ved Prakash Shukla, whose family lives in a New Delhi slum, has subscribed to a Hindi paper for 15 years.

“My wife would scold me, saying, `Why are you wasting money on a paper when we don’t have money to buy food?’ But I saw the newspaper as an investment in my children’s future,” he said.

For now, India’s newspapers represent luxury, opportunity, and an open horizon.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.