Amar Ujala to launch three magazines

The Hindi daily group will enter the magazine space in January 2011; its first title will be on the lines of Competition Success Review.

The Hindi daily group, which ventured into book publishing earlier this year, is all set to launch three magazines in Hindi.

The first title by Amar Ujala will be on the lines of Competition Success Review (CSR) and will be launched in January 2011. The group is keeping the name and cover price of the magazine under wraps as of now. This 200-page offering will be a monthly.

According to Sunil Mutreja, president, Amar Ujala Publications, "All the three magazines from our group will try and create awareness about various things in the Hindi speaking population of the country." Since Hindi is the forte of Amar Ujala Group, it decided not to digress from the language; hence the decision to launch all the three magazines in Hindi.

The second magazine will be current affairs and literature-based, which will cater to the masses. Amar Ujala is eyeing an initial print run of around 4 lakh copies for this yet-to-be-named title. With a cover price of Rs 5 and a large distribution plan, it looks as if this product from Amar Ujala will compete with Saras Salil -- the No. 2 magazine of the country as per IRS 2010 Q3 -- from Delhi Press.

This magazine will be a fortnightly and have 32 pages on an average. Its inaugural edition will hit the newsstands by end of January.

The third magazine will be women centric; and the group is still working on the details of the title. According to Mutreja, this magazine is expected to be launched in February end.

The distribution strategy for all the three products is being put in place and will follow the traditional model of sales.