RNI: Higher growth in new publications compared to previous year

During the 2016-17 financial year, over 4,000 new publications were registered with the Registrar for Newspapers of India (RNI), 3.58 per cent more than the increase in number of new publications compared to the previous year.

(File Photo)

At a time when the newspaper industry is under immense pressure to find and retain readers across the world, India seems to be bucking the trend and the industry is still growing. During the 2016-17 financial year, over 4,000 new publications were registered with the Registrar for Newspapers of India (RNI), 3.58 per cent more than the increase in number of new publications compared to the previous year.

The RNI comes out with its annual report capturing industry trends. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani released the latest report for 2016-17 on Friday. The report shows that India has 1,14,820 publications brought out across the country. Of the total, almost 17,000 are dailies, tri- and bi-weeklies. The largest number of publications are in Hindi at 46,587. The second largest number of publications is in English at 14,365.

The circulation for all the publications in each of these languages for 2016-17 was 23,89,75,773 in Hindi and 5,65,77,000 in English. The total circulation for all publications registered with the RNI was 48,80,89,490.

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After English, Urdu publications have a circulation of nearly 3.24 crore across the country. In the total publications registered for every state, Uttar Pradesh led with 17,736 periodicals, followed by Maharashtra with 15,673 publications. The RNI received over 20,000 new request for titles during the year, of which nearly 10,000 approved. Only 38 publications officially ceased to exist in 2016-17.

Releasing the report, Irani said the annual report was an “important document to map the progress of the Indian newspaper industry”. She added: “The report gave a comprehensive analysis of the contours of the growth for the industry, especially the growth amongst regional language publications.”

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