N Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu

A professionally qualified chartered accountant, N Murali joined the family-owned The Hindu Group in 1969. Climbing up the ladder, he became General Manager in 1977 and Joint Managing Director in 1995. Currently, Murali is Managing Director of The Hindu and Kasturi & Sons Ltd, publishers of The Hindu and other allied publications.

Besides playing an active role in the day-to-day operations of The Hindu and its allied publications, Murali has also held various high positions in several industrial bodies. He was President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) in 1983-84, and 1996-97, he was Chairman, Council of Management, Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). He was also Chairman, National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) in 1998-2000, and Chairman, Board of Governors, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in 2003-04.

Murali, who was also elected as the first board member from South Asia of IFRA, Darmstadt, Germany (the world's leading association for media publishing, 1998-2004), was also member of the Board of World Association of Newspapers (WAN), Paris, in 2005-06.

He is currently Chairman, Board of Trustees, of Press Institute of India.

Murali has also been associated with the world of music and sports. He was President of Tamil Nadu Tennis Association in 1994-96; Trustee, Media Development Foundation, Chennai; Member of the Board of Governors of Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Currently he is President of The Music Academy, Chennai.

In conversation with exchange4media's B Judy Franko, Murali sheds some light on the print scenario in Chennai with the entry of The Times of India, apart from spelling out his strategy to deal with competition. Excerpt.

Q. There have been some reports in the media that The Hindu is in talks with Australia’s Fairfax Media for a possible sale of a minority stake...

These reports are baseless. We have been denying these reports and the other side has also been denying it. It's all unnecessary speculation. Even Business Standard and Mint had asked me the same question and I stoutly denied it.

I think the hoardings effect might possibly impact print, as you rightly said. Earlier, many companies took hoardings in addition to print, television and radio. With outdoor taking a knock like this, we could see more advertising coming to print and television.

Already BL has a few supplements. Smart Buy is our latest initiative. The segments in BL like Agri Business, Commodity, Corporate, Banking, and IT have been well received by people in the respective industries. BL in the last 14 years has made its mark. It is solid and its fundamentals are very strong.

People respect BL for its content, credibility and its balanced outlook. BL does not sensationalise or speculate things like some other newspapers in this space. BL is doing well and I think it is on the right track. There has always been some improvement or the other happening at the BL. Today, BL has emerged as a strong No. 2, though Business Standard claims to be No. 2. Whether it is No. 2 or No. 3, BL as paper is valued by corporate circles, professional circles and so on. BL has not played the price game like Economic Times or Business Standard.

It's still early days. Ergo is fairly popular in the IT corridor. But we will have to get more advertisements. It's a new concept for advertisers, without readership figures or ABC figures. It will take time for advertisers' acceptance. But the response has been good. If you ask me whether it is successful or not, it is too early to say anything on that. However, as a product Ergo has been well received and we are printing around 55,000 copies everyday.

Change is an ongoing process in The Hindu. One need not look at bringing about changes just because The Times of India has launched. The Hindu has brought out so many supplements in the last couple of years which are doing extremely very well. The very fact that Times has taken so long to enter the market makes it clear that in their mind Chennai is one of the most difficult markets to crack. However, we welcome healthy competition as it would help bring all-round improvement in quality and value additions. Our case is very clear. We are in the business of serious journalism, and our core values and fundamentals are strong.

The Times has tasted success in different markets. The market leader or the well-entrenched market leader did drop the cover prices following the Times' entry in different markets. For instance, The Telegraph in Kolkata and Deccan Chronicle in Hyderabad did drop their cover price, but are still holding on to the lead. It's a different story in Bangalore. Everybody reduced the cover in response to the Times' launch there. so did the market leader Deccan Herald. However, Deccan Herald did not respond in a way to counter TOI and, therefore, surrendered the lead to the Times long ago.

Dropping the price is a question of market dynamics. In our case, we have dropped the price within ABC norms. According to ABC's current norm, the selling price of the newspaper should not be more than the net price one gets from the sale of the paper after deducting distributor's commission. So, at Rs 2.50 we are able to manage the page level and give sufficient commission to the hawkers. There has been an outstanding demand from the hawkers for increase of commission for a long time. Since we had not revised the price for many years, we informed the hawkers that while revising the price we would consider their request, and now we have increased the trade commission following the revised cover price.

Both Deccan Chronicle and The New Indian Express will find it difficult to pay the higher commission to hawkers. There is a demand from the hawkers to increase the commission and make it on par with the Times and The Hindu. Both Chronicle and Express have no other option but to increase the cover price in order to give higher commission to the hawkers.

The Hindu has been taking on issues from time to time. Even the Bofors scandal was unearthed by The Hindu. We are known for our objectivity, independence and credible journalism, and we will remain that way. We cannot take a partisan stand.

A newspaper like TOI will not take strong views on issues, whether it is social, democratic or political, but what they have been able to do best is to create a connect with the local people wherever they are present. Times has always reflected the flavour of the city and different editions of Times are local. However, it lacked the commonality. Apart from the entertainment and lifestyle aspect, creating a connect with the local people has been their plus point.

Times is known more for marketing than journalism. However, it can always step up on the journalism front as well and, therefore, one can never underestimate Times. Times has been a hugely successful newspaper elsewhere because of its marketing and financial muscle and the advantage of publishing from big metros, where there a lot of advertisers are also present.

As far as Deccan Chronicle is concerned, I frankly do not believe in their numbers neither does the industry nor the advertisers. According to industry's evaluation, Chronicle's circulation could not be more than 125,000 or at best 150,000 copies, but they are claiming double that. Where is the market for that in Chennai?

Chroncile's claim of over 250,000 copies for their Chennai edition (according to latest ABC) is laughable and has to be questioned. I strongly discount Chronicle's claimed figures. Even the assumption that Chennai has over eight lakh English newspaper reading population is based on some highly exaggerated figures produced by Chronicle. The city's English newspaper reading base cannot be more than six lakh. With The Times of India entering Chennai, the market is bound to grow.

Financial Chronicle hardly looks like a business newspaper. I don't think it will have any impact anywhere. I don't understand the purpose of this launch. They have launched the newspaper just because they informed the Stock Exchange. I don't see the paper having any relevance or making any impact on the existing business newspapers.

Difficult in the sense we had to increase the compensation to the journalists and the marketing team. TOI was able to offer any price for people. In our case, there is equity across the board. I am told that journalists from Express went en masse to the Times. But we have not lost any talent to TOI except a legal reporter and a sub-editor and hardly anybody from the marketing department. Times managed people either from Express or recruited fresh hands.

We have taken some intensive sales promotion efforts. Times took lot of hoardings, and so did The Hindu. However, the ban on hoarding is a setback. But the Times needed the hoardings more than us. I feel it's a good thing that the hoardings have gone in Chennai. The hoardings marred the city's skyline so much that they were haphazard, dangerous, and chaotic and came out in all sorts of places. In a way, these hoardings were so unregulated.

Yes, we are confident. Nowadays, households do not buy just one newspaper. One paper might be the primary paper. For instance, The Hindu is the primary paper here. So, a household will buy not less than two English newspapers, which will contribute to the growth of the market and The Hindu will continue to be the market leader.

Chennai as a city is not changing. There are people coming from outside Chennai – mainly in the IT sector – who are used to Times at some point of time, who might pick up Times as the second newspaper. It will take a long time for TOI to become primary newspaper in Chennai households. Some households, who have migrated to the city from outside, because of their earlier association with TOI, might pick it up as primary newspaper. But traditional Chennai households, which are used to The Hindu for generations, will continue to read it as their primary newspaper and Times might become their secondary newspaper.

My hunch is that Times, apart from expanding, will eat into the circulation of Chronicle and Express. Chronicle, I am told, is already feeling the impact. Express, which does not have a big base, will also be affected. But I think it is Chronicle that will be affected more.

Times does not claim to be a primary or No. 1 newspaper in Chennai. They say that they would get into households of people who are settled in Chennai from other parts of the country. Times has also been realistic in stating that their idea is not to supplant the market leader, though that could be their wish.