Anandabazar Patrika
Ananda Bazar Patrika is a Bengali daily newspaper and was founded in 1922 by Prafulla Kumar Sarkar and Suresh Chandra Majumdar. The paper is ranked 12th in the Top 20 list of all Indian-language newspapers in the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2017. The same survey puts the paper in the fifth position in the regional newspapers list, and the top Bengali newspaper with 1.2 million readers.
It was initially launched as a 4-page evening daily in 1922 raising a banner of revolt against the British rule. The company’s website claims a readership of nearly six million for its newspaper.
Today, Ananda Bazar Patrika as a group is one of the largest media conglomerates which ventured out into Television and online media. It also publishes a widely-read English newspaper, The Telegraph.
Audience Share
2.07%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
Regional
Content Type
Paid
Media Companies / Groups
ABP Group
Ownership Structure
Anandabazar Patrika is owned by ABP private Limited. The shares of ABP Private Limited are divided among 4 members of the Sarkar family: Aveek Kumar Sarkar (19.5%), Arup Sarkar (19.5%), Atideb Sarkar (19.5%) and Shithi Sarkar (19.5%). The remaining 21.9% shares are held by ABP Holdings Private limited.
The shares of ABP Holding Private Limited are further divided among the four family members: Aveek Kumar Sarkar (25%), Arup Sarkar (25%), Shithi Sarkar (25%) and Atideb Sarkar (25%). Therefore, the family controls 100% of ABP Holding Private Limited, i.e. it’s 21.9% stake in ABP Private Limited.
Hence, the Sarkar family controls in total 99.99% share of ABP Private Limited.
Voting Rights
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Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
1922
Affiliated Interests Founder
founded Anandabazar Patrika in 1922. Being considered a nationalist, he created the newspaper as a mark of protest against the British rule. Multiple times his nationalistic views resulted in his imprisonment.
was the co-founder and proprietor of Anandabazar Patrika
Affiliated Interests Ceo
is the Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer of Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) Private Limited, the publishing company of the ABP newspaper. Purkayastha is a Cost and Management Accountant and has been with the company for 34 years of his 37 years of professional life. In other interests, Purkayastha is the chairperson of the Central Advisory Committee of WAN-INFRA, an association of newspapers with presence in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. Further, he functions as the Director of Media Content and Communication Services (MCCS), the company’s broadcasting arm ABP News, ABP Ananda and ABP Majha.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
started his career with Anandabazar Patrika in 1983 as a writer on economic issues and later moved on to the editorial department.
At present, he is the Editor of Anandabazar Patrika. He studied at the Presidency College, Calcutta (today known as Kolkata) and was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Studies.
Affiliated Interests other important people
In addition to owning shares of ABP’s publishing company ABP Private Limited he currently is the Vice Chairman and Editor Emeritus of the ABP Group of Publications. Moreover, he functions as a Director with ABP Private Limited, ABP Holdings Private Limited, Press Trust of India, CIMA Gallery Private Limited and Sarkar Consultants Private Limited.
He created a brand in the television industry through ABP News with separate channels in Bengali, ABP Ananda, and in Marathi, ABP Majha. His most recent achievement has been the joint venture with the US-American magazine Fortune to launch an edition of Fortune in India.
is the younger brother of Aveek Sarkar and also a part owner.
Earlier, Arup Sarkar was the Chief Editor of the group’s Bengali magazines. Currently he also is one of the Directors of ABP Holdings Private Limited and Sarkar Consultants Private Limited.
Together with Arup and Aveek Sarkar he owns shares in ABP Private Limited and also holds the position of the Executive Director at the company. He joined ABP in October 2010, has worked in various functions across the group including Editorial and Strategy, and currently serves on the boards of ABP Private Ltd and ABP News Network Private Ltd. Apart from these 2 companies, he is also a Director of Wedoria Technologies Private Limited and the Indian Newspaper Society. His educational background includes a Bachelor’s as well as a Master’s degrees in Economics.
is a shareholder of ABP Private Limited together with her family members. As per the company website, she does not hold any executive or non-executive positions.
Contact
ABP Private Limited
6 Prafulla Sarkar Street
Calcutta 700001 India
Tel.: 91 33 22345374, 22216600, 22378000
Website: www.anandabazar.com
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
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Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
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Advertising (in % of total funding)
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Market Share
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Further Information
Meta Data
The ownership data was sourced from the filings from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It is important to note here that the data is based on the 2016-2017 filings in the MCA records. The MOM team sent an email on the 10th January 2019 followed by a letter on the 1st February 2019 to ABP to confirm the data given in the document. There has been no answer yet.
