 Logo of The Times Group | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mass media |
| Founded | 4 November 1838 (187 years ago) (1838-11-04) |
| Headquarters | Mumbai,Maharashtra, India |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Revenue |  ₹73.94 billion (US$870 million) (2022)[1] |
| ₹4.57 billion (US$54 million) (2022)[1] | |
| Owner | Sahu Jain family |
Number of employees | 11,100 (2014)[2] |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | bccl |
Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL),d/b/athe Times Group, is an Indianmedia conglomerate based inMumbai.[3] Notable media properties owned and operated by the group include India's largest selling daily English-language newspaperThe Times of India, television channels such asTimes Now, the radio station networkRadio Mirchi, and magazinesFilmfare andFemina.[4][5]
TheSahu Jain family owns a majority of the stake in the group. In May 2023, the Times Group was split into two separate business entities between brothersVineet Jain andSamir Jain, such that its radio and broadcast properties would remain with Vineet Jain and its print properties would be under the ownership of Samir Jain.[6][7]
TheBombay Times and Journal of Commerce was first published on 3 November 1838 as a predecessor to what would becomeThe Times of India.[8][9][10] While starting as a biweekly paper, it was converted to a daily in 1850. In 1859 the paper was merged with two other papers into theBombay Times and Standard under editorRobert Knight.[10][11] Two years later, in 1861, the paper got a more national scope with the titleThe Times of India. Subsequently the paper saw its ownership change several times until 1892 when an English journalist namedThomas Jewell Bennett along with Frank Morris Coleman (who later drowned in the 1915 sinking of theSSPersia) acquired the newspaper through their new joint stock company,Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL).[10][11] 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.[12][13]
Dalmia (7 April 1893 – 26 September 1978) was a pioneer industrialist and founder of the Dalmia-Jain group orDalmia 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 parliamentarianFeroze Gandhi who was part of the rulingCongress party headed by his estranged father-in-lawJawaharlal Nehru. In December 1955, he raised the matter in theParliament, documenting extensively the various fund transfers and intermediaries through which the acquisition had been financed. The case was investigated by theVivian Bose Commission of Inquiry.
In the court case that followed, where he was represented by the leading British attorneySir Dingle Mackintosh Foot, Dalmia was sentenced to two years inTihar Jail. But he managed to spend most of the jail term in hospital. During this period the company was run by Dalmia's son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain.
Upon his release his son-in-lawSahu Shanti Prasad Jain to whom he had entrusted running of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. rebuffed his efforts to resume command of the company.[14] Jain would buy the company a few years later and the company would be primarily run by his family in the years after.[13][15] The company expanded its presence in theIndian media sphere by founding different papers and local editions ofThe Times of India.[11]
The Times of India press published a number of influential English (e.g.Illustrated Weekly of India 1880-1993) andHindi magazines (e.g.Dharmyug 1949-1997, Sarika,Dinaman 1965-1990s,Parag 1958-1990s), edited by distinguished authors includingKhushwant Singh,Dharmveer Bharti,Agyeya andSarveshwar Dayal Saxena. However, the organisation faced financial difficulties, and most of them were closed down during the 1990s.
The sons ofSahu Ashok Jain, SahuSamir Jain andVineet Jain are credited with reviving the financial success of the group with newer and more profitable ventures.[16][17]
The Times Group owns the following channels.[20]
| Channel | Language | Category | SD/HD availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Movies Now | English | Movies | SD+HD | |
| MNX | FormerlyMovies Now 2 | |||
| Romedy Now | SD | |||
| MN+ | HD | |||
| Times Now | News | SD | ||
| Times Now World | HD | FormerlyTimes Now HD | ||
| ET Now | Business News | SD | ||
| Times Now Navbharat[21] | Hindi | News | SD+HD | |
| ET Now Swadesh[22] | Business News | SD | ||
| Zoom | Hindi | Music | SD |
| Channel | Launch | Language | Category | Defunct | SD/HD availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Sports | English | Sports | 2023 | SD | ||
| Mirror Now | English | News | 2025 | SD |
 | |
| Company type | Business Service |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| 180,000,000 Canadian dollar (2016) | |
Number of employees | 11,002 (2014) |
| Parent | Times Internet |
| Website | http://www.tbsl.in/ |
Times Business Solutions – A division of Times Internet Limited is a limited company, wholly owned by Bennett Coleman Company Limited (The Times Group). TBS developsweb sites within areas such asrecruitment,real estate andmatrimonials such as SimplyMarry.com.[23]
TBS started as a division of BCCL in 2004 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[24] in September 2019.
Times Internet is an Indian company which owns, operates and invests in variousInternet-led products, services and technology.
Radio Mirchi is a nationwide network of privateFM radio stations inIndia.
