The Daily Mail newspaper formula will be reinvented in India with the launch this week of a 48-page tabloid written in English and aimed at the country’s emerging middle classes and neglected female readers.

Mail Today, a joint venture between Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) and the family run India Today Group, goes on sale in Delhi on Friday with an initial print run of 120,000, aimed at the nine million English-speakers in the capital and regions near by.

The new title, with a cover price of 2.5 rupees (3p), aims to reproduce the Daily Mail’s campaigning style of journalism. DMGT is helping with the design and the editorial approach. It will not say how much it is committing to the venture, but official figures say that the total is £2.2 million.

It is the first time that DMGT has invested in developing a leading newspaper outside Europe, although the British company is conscious that it is a minority partner. DMGT holds 26 per cent, the maximum permitted.

India Today Group is known for highbrow publications such as its flagship magazine India Today. Aroon Purie, Editor in Chief of the Indian group, is an admirer of Britain’s Mail and the two companies quickly came together to strike an agreement.

Mr Purie said that the new title would have a “differentiating factor” in a crowded market. “Existing newspapers are bland. There is a space for one that has attitude and takes a stand,” he said. “It will be of the format and style of the Daily Mail and will appeal to Indian women, who have been ignored.”

The paper will be edited by Bharat Bhushan, formerly the Delhi editor of The Telegraph, the Calcutta-based newspaper.

DMGT recognises that Indian readers are more interested in politics, for example, than their British counterparts. However, industry insiders said that it would be a challenge to convince Indian readers that the paper would be serious about its news: traditionally they have associated tabloid formats with downmarket journalism.

“It will be a hurdle,” Raju Narisetti, managing editor of Mint, the business newspaper that began publishing in February, said. Mint, which is co-owned by HT Media, owner of the Hindustan Times, and The Wall Street Journal, chose the larger, more expensive Berliner format for that reason.

Mail Today is taking on a powerful duopoly of upmarket English-speaking publications. The Times of India has a daily circulation of 2.8 million, followed by the Hindustan Times, with more than 1.2 million copies a day.

The biggest challenge for a new title is distribution, according to Mr Narisetti. “Street hawkers still control the delivery. There is no way around them and you have little leverage except your commission,” he said. “There is some brand pull and you can create demand with advertising, but the battle is won door-to-door.”

Mail Today will use India Today Group’s magazine distribution network. It has 100,000 subscribers to India Todayin Delhi. The paper will be printed by Dainik Jagran, the biggest-selling Hindi daily.

Associated’s investment in Mail Today is 180 million rupees (£2.2 million), according to the official application, which was cleared last week by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). This assumes an enterprise value for the start-up of about £9 million.

There are more than 2,200 newspapers and magazines competing for attention in India, but nearly three quarters of advertising revenues come from Delhi and Bombay.

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