Bennett Coleman & Co publishers of the Times of India and Rajasthan Patrika the Hindi daily based in Jaipur and published from several  centres of Rajasthan are apparently forming a joint-venture to promote the TOI English daily in the Hindi belt. The joint-venture company headquartered in Rajasthan will print, market and distribute The Times of India in Rajasthan. Apparently the joint venture revenue will come from selling advertising for the TOI in Rajasthan.

Bennett Coleman seems to be on determined campaign of buying regional newspaper groups and setting up alliances. In the past several months it has purchased the Kannad language Vijay Karnataka group outright for Rs. 187 crore and invested in buying 11 per cent of the preferential shares in the in the Gujarati daily Sandesh . It has also tied up with HT Media to publish a tabloid in the Berliner format from Delhi. The tabloid which is undergoing test runs should hit the stand by mid January 2007.

In addition the group has invested in 6.67 per cent in the equity of Mid-Day Multimedia. Mid-Day's promoters are proposing an incremental investment of US$ 5.08 million, and the Bennett Coleman Group, an investment of US$ 4.75 million at a price of US$ 1.35 a share. With the completion of both investments the Ansari family, promoters of Mid-Day Multimedia would still own 51 per cent and Bennett Coleman 6.67 per cent.

The strategic alliance of the two groups is apparently aimed at the afternoon tabloid markets around the country and will share the two groups assets in printing, circulation, and advertising sales. Bennett Coleman publishes the highest circulated English daily and the highest circulated financial daily and also owns television and FM radio channels. Mid-Day based in Mumbai has a strong afternoon daily tabloid there and has recently begun an edition in Bangalore. The alliance aims to support Mid-Day's growth plans in print as well as FM radio across the country's metros.

According to a joint statement made by Ravi Dhariwal, executive director of Bennett, Coleman and Tariq Ansari, managing director of Mid-Day Multimedia, both papers complement each other with The Times of India holding a leadership position as a morning broadsheet and Mid-Day having a successful formula for the middle-of-the-day segment. The alliance would attempt to increase the strengthen the market share of their respective publications in major metro cities.

Bennett Coleman has also purchased the entire equity of Omega Publications in Assam, publishers of the Dong Musa daily in Assamese and Sentinel daily in English.

Apparently Bennett Coleman media conglomerate is also one of the suitors pursuing Prabhat Khabar the Hindi daily published from Ranchi in Jharkhand. Apparently the enterprise value of the daily publishing operation is around Rs. 100 crore and suitors include Bennett Coleman, HT Media, Jagran Prakashan, Amar Ujala and the Dainik Bhaskar group. In November 2006 it was reported that Prabhat Khabar was looking to raise Rs. 50 to 60 crore funding its expansion plans including new editions in Jharkhand and the relaunch of its editions from Patna and Deoghar as well as an entry in radio. The newspaper is owned by Usha Martin Black, a company controlled by the Goenka group.