Business Standard Hindi to launch Raipur edition

It is the first edition of Business Standard to be launched from Chhattisgarh.

Business Standard will launch Business Standard Hindi, its Hindi daily, in Raipur, on August 24. This will be Business Standard's eighth edition, and the first in Chhattisgarh.

The new edition will have a cover price of Rs 3, and will be published six days a week -- from Monday to Saturday. It will, apart from Raipur, reach out to readers in Bhilai, Bilaspur, Korba, Raigad and Jagadalpur.

The edition will be launched by the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh. The launch will be followed by a panel discussion titled Business Standard Samriddhi, where bureaucrats and industry representatives will talk about the development map for the state. The series has been conducted over the past two years in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and recently, in Delhi.

According to S Arun Natesh, head, marketing, Business Standard, the introduction of the Raipur edition will benefit traders, SMEs, businessmen and investors from Chhattisgarh. "It will keep them updated about business news from around the country. Through Vyapar Ghosti, an interactive page in the paper, the readers from Chhattisgarh will get a platform to share their views at a national level," says Natesh.

On an average, the daily will have 14 pages of content, including regional news.

The group expects to generate sizeable advertising revenues from the Raipur edition. The ad rates for the edition will be in the range of Rs 120 per sq cm for coloured ads.

Launched in February 2008, Business Standard Hindi has seven editions across Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Patna, Kolkata and Bhopal. For the record, Business Standard Hindi reaches out to small and medium entrepreneurs, traders, and small investors. The daily has been designed around meeting this need by adding locally relevant content. In recent times, the paper has increased its coverage of local commodity information for the trading community.