With the launch of Mumbai edition, HT has now staked claim for a national newspaper. It is published from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata apart from Lucknow, Bhopal, Patna, Ranchi, Jaipur and some smaller locations thereby covering the entire northern India.
Though it has no edition in South India yet but three metros and visibility up to the Vindhyas have given it a national character that was missing until a few years back.
In sharp contrast, the Times of India (TOI) has editions in bigger cities. Compared to Bhopal, Ranchi and Jaipur where HT has editions, TOI has editions in bigger cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Indian Express has always been a national newspaper. Almost two years ago it launched Lucknow edition. The New Indian Express has a good presence in Southern India.
Despite being widely circulated, The Hindu is not a national newspaper in this sense. Though it has a readership spread across a vast area and is a bigger paper in this sense than either the Telegraph or the Asian Age and Statesman. Still the number of national newspapers is too less, just 3, with Express declining for the last several years despite attempts of revamp.
