A SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT

ON COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS STANDARD AND ECONOMIC TIMES BUSINESS STANDARD LIMITED LUCKNOW

SUBMITTED BY PRASHANT VERMA MBA (Marketing)

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT

ON

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS STANDARD AND ECONOMIC TIMES Master of Business Administration University Of Lucknow 2011-2013

Project Guide
Mr. SUNNY BUDHARIA BRANCH HEAD

Submitted by
PRASHANT VERMA Master of Business Administration

CONTENTS
PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT DECLEARATION EXCUTIVE SUMMARY

Chapter - 1

INTRODUCTION

Concept of Financial Analysis Methods of Financial Analysis Concept of Comparative Analysis Types of Analysis Techniques of Financial Analysis

Chapter- 2 Chapter- 3 Chapter-4

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES IMPORTANCE OF STUDY LITERATURE REVIEW

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Chapter- 5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Data Collection Research Process

Chapter 6

COMPANY PROFILE

Establishment and History Organizational Structure Growth and Business of Business Standard Landmarks and Achievements

Chapter - 7

ECONOMIC TIMES
Introduction Business and Growth

Chapter - 8

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS STANDARD AND ECONOMI TIMES

Chapter - 9 Chapter-10 Chapter -11 Chapter-12

FINDINGS AND SUGGESSIONS CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHIES ANNEXURE

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PREFACE
I have completed my project under the supervision of It was a good exposure for me to complete this project under the guidance of such an inspiring mentor. Project report is one of the major experiencing components of the knowledge, gain of relevant information with respect to finance and media industry and dealing with situations in professional courses like M.B.A where a professional person faces a problem in a field. I was able to get familiarized with the corporate world and finance as a whole and got to know how a company measures their grievances and service them to the maximum for future prospect and success. It is good to be effervescent but it is essential to work on this particular project. Thus I would say that working on this particular project was beneficial and educative for me which will certainly help me in my near future. The project helps me to get the enhanced knowledge regarding financial analysis and its other aspects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With regard to my project with Comparative Analysis of Business Standard with Economic Times I would like to add a few words of appreciation for the people who have been a part of this project right from its inception. The writing of this project has been one of the significant academic challenges I have faced and without the support, patience, and guidance of the people involved, this task would not have been completed. It is to them I owe my deepest gratitude. First and foremost I would prefer to express to my gratitude to the branch manager Mr. Sunny Budaria and Mr. Alok Kumar who guided and supported in my project on proper way. He kept on my position as employees in the company and behaved in cooperative manner as well as other specks regarding project completion. I also feel heartiest sense of obligation to my library staff and seniors, who helped me in collection of data and resource materials and also in its processing as well as drafting manuscript. The project is dedicated to all those people, who helped me while doing this project.

DECLERATION
I hereby declare that this Project Report entitled COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS STANDARD WITH ECONOMIC TIMES in BUSINESS STANDARD Submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirement of Master of Business

Administration, University of Lucknow, Lucknow is based on the primary and secondary data provided to me. However, this report is mainly based on the analysis of the Stat Audit Report by Ford, Rhodes, Parks & Co., Mumbai.

PLACE: LUCKNOW DATE:

PRASHANT VERMA (MBA 3rd Sem.)

EXCUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Title: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS STANDARD AND ECONOMIC TIMES. Company Name: Business Standard Limited. The training at Business Standard Limited involved the day to day working at corporate accounts departments with the senior & junior managers and research department in the company. This project helped me to get the deeper understanding of the process of Comparative Statement Analysis and how decisions are taken to strengthen the financial position. For this study five years, comparative Income Statement & Balance Sheet have been taken for calculating ratio analysis. Main objective in undertaking this project is to supplement academic knowledge with absolute practical exposure to day to day functions of the sector. Financial analysis which is the topic of this project refers to an assessment of the viability, stability and profitability of a business. This important analysis is performed usually by finance professionals in order to prepare financial or annual reports. These financial reports are made with using the information taken from financial statements of the company and it is based on the significant tool of Ratio Analysis. These reports are usually presented to top management as one of their basis in making crucial business decisions. During the summer training period at Business Standard Limited, I had close connection with preparation of financial statements and also their analysis which was made by professionals in the accounting team of the company. This experience was an emphasis on the importance of these Ratios which could be the roots of decisions made by management that can make or break the company. So, I was influenced to allocate the aim of this project to study the details about these ratios and their possible effects on the decisions made by not only people inside the company but also the outsiders such as investors.

CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION
Concept of Financial Analysis Methods of Financial Analysis Concept of Comparative Analysis Types of Analysis Techniques of Financial Analysis

CONCEPT OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Financial Analysis is the process of determining financial strength and weakness of the firm/company by establishing strategic relationship between the components of Balance sheet and the Profit & Loss Statement and other Operative data. Financial Analysis is thus an attempt to dissect the financial statements into their components on the basis of the purpose in hand and establish relationship between these components, on the one hand and as between individual components and totals of these items, on the other. Alongside this, a study of trend of various important factors over the past several years is also undertaken to have clear understanding of changing profitability and financial condition of the business organization. Thus, Financial Analysis refers to an assessment of the viability, stability and profitability of a business, sub-business or a project. The analysis of financial statements involves the three major steps: (1). Reorganization and Rearrangement of the entire financial data as contained in the financial statements. This calls for the breakdown of individual components of financial statements and regrouping them into few principal elements according to their resemblances and affinities. Thus, the balance sheet and Profit & Loss accounts are completely recasted and presented in the condensed form entirely different from their original shape. (2). Establishment of significant relationships between the individual components of balance sheet and Profit & Loss account. This is done through the application of tools of financial analysis like common size statement, Ratio analysis, Trend analysis, Fund flow statement, etc. (3). Evaluating the result obtained by means of financial tools. The result is measured against the established standard. Financial Analysis is performed by professionals who prepare reports using ratios that make use of information taken from financial statements and other reports. These reports are usually presented to top management as one of their bases in making business decisions.

Continue or discontinue its main operation or part of its business; Make or purchase certain materials in the manufacture of its product; Acquire or rent / lease certain machineries and equipment in the production of its goods; Issue stocks or negotiate for a bank loan to increase its working capital;

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Make decisions regarding investing or lending capital; Other decisions that allow management to make an informed selection on various alternatives in the conduct of its business.

GOALS OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Financial analysts often assess the following elements of a firm:

1. Profitability its ability to earn income and sustain growth in both the short- and longterm. A company's degree of profitability is usually based on the income statement, which reports on the company's results of operations;

2. Solvency - its ability to pay its obligation to creditors and other third parties in the longterm;

3. Liquidity - its ability to maintain positive cash flow, while satisfying

Immediate obligations; Both 2 and 3 are based on the company's balance sheet, which indicates the financial condition of a business as of a given point in time.

4. Stability - the firm's ability to remain in business in the long run, without having to sustain
significant losses in the conduct of its business. Assessing a company's stability requires the use of both the income statement and the balance sheet, as well as other financial and nonfinancial indicators.

METHODS OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Financial analysis often compares financial ratios (of solvency profitability and growth, etc.). Following are the methods by which the analysis is done.

Past Performance - Across historical time periods for the same firm (the last 5 years for
example),

Future Performance - Using historical

figures and certain mathematical and statistical techniques, including present and future values, This extrapolation method is the main source of errors in financial analysis as past statistics can be poor predictors of future prospects.

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Comparative Performance - Comparison between similar firms.

These ratios are calculated by dividing a (group of) account balance(s), taken from the balance sheet and / or the income statement, by another, for example: Net income / equity = return on equity (ROE) Net income / total assets = return on assets (ROA) Stock price / earnings per share = P/E ratio Comparing financial ratios is merely one way of conducting financial analysis. Financial ratios face several theoretical challenges:

Fundamental Analysis. Fundamental analysis of a business involves analyzing

its financial statements and health, its management and competitive advantages, and its competitors and markets. When applied to futures and forex, it focuses on the overall state of the economy, interest rates, production, earnings, and management. When analyzing a stock, futures contract, or currency using fundamental analysis there are two basic approaches one can use; bottom up analysis and top down analysis. The term is used to distinguish such analysis from other types of investment analysis, such as quantitative analysis and technical analysis.

Financial analysts can also use percentage analysis which involves reducing a series of figures as a percentage of some base amounts. For example, a group of items can be expressed as a percentage of net income. When proportionate changes in the same figure over a given time period expressed as a percentage is known as horizontal analysis. Vertical or common-size analysis, reduces all items on a statement to a common size as a percentage of some base value which assists in comparability with other companies of different sizes. As a result, all Income Statement items are divided by Sales, and all Balance Sheet items are divided by Total Assets. Another method is comparative analysis. This provides a better way to determine trends. Comparative analysis presents the same information for two or more time periods and is presented side-by-side to allow for easy analysis.

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CONCEPT OF COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Comparative analysis answers questions about how and why a system will react to perturbations of its parameters. For example, comparative analysis can explain why the period of a spring/block system would increase if the mass of the block were larger. This paper formalizes the problem of comparative analysis and describes a solution technique, differential qualitative analysis; the technique only works if the system can dynamically change perspectives when it compares the values of parameters over intervals. This paper shows how perspectives can be used for comparative analysis, summarizes a soundness proof for the technique, demonstrates incompleteness, describes a working implementation, and presents experimental results. In order to analyze the financial statements for a business, more information is needed from the balance sheets. The owner must look at the last two years of the firm's balance sheets and compare the differences between the two in order to develop the Statement of Cash Flows. The table below gives you sample Comparative Balance Sheets for a firm. With sample information from an income statement and the information from these comparative balance sheets, we can develop our Statement of Cash Flows.

Comparative Analysis is the comparison between similar firms in terms of various financial aspects. The basis of comparison is the financial statements like Balance sheet, Profit and Loss statement, Fund flow statement and other informative tool. The annual audit reports published by the firm do contains the comparable information on the basis of which two or more firms are compared about their operational output. The ratio analysis provides a better comparative study of firms operational efficiency. Some of the ratios as Net income / equity = return on equity (ROE) Net income / total assets = return on assets (ROA) Stock price / earnings per share = P/E ratio Comparing financial ratios is merely one way of conducting financial analysis. Financial ratios face several theoretical challenges: They say little about the firm's prospects in an absolute sense. Their insights about relative performance require a reference point from other time periods or similar firms. One ratio holds little meaning. As indicators, ratios can be logically interpreted in at least two ways. One can partially overcome this problem by combining several related ratios to paint a more comprehensive picture of the firm's performance.

Seasonal factors may prevent year-end values from being representative. A ratio's values may be distorted as account balances change from the beginning to the end of an accounting period. Use average values for such accounts whenever possible.
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Financial ratios are no more objective than the accounting methods employed. Changes in accounting policies or choices can yield drastically different ratio values.

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TYPES OF ANALYSIS
Basically there are two types of Analysis are undertaken to interpret the position of an enterprise. They are: VERTICAL ANALYSIS. It is the analysis of relationship between different individual components and as between these components and their total for a given period of time Since this sort of analysis examines relationship as between different components for a given point of time and does not shed light on the changing behaviour of the above relationships, it is also regarded as static analysis. Comparison of current assets and current liabilities or comparison of debt to equity or comparison of debt to total assets for one point of time is the examples of vertical analysis. HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS. It is the analysis of changes in different components of the financial statements over different periods with the help of series of statements. Such an analysis makes it possible to study periodic fluctuations in different components of the financial statements. It is also known as Dynamic analysis. Study of trends in debt or share capital or in their relationship over the past ten years period or study of profitability trends for a period of five or ten years are examples Of Horizontal type of analysis.

TECHNIQUES OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Trend analysis. This method of analysis studies the percentage relationship that each
item of financial statement bears to the same in the base year. Through this analysis the analyst seeks to review changes that have taken place in individual categories therein from year to year and over the years. Thus trend analysis can take the form of year to year comparisons, index numbers, trend series and trend ratio.

Common-Size statements. It is a financial tool of studying key changes and trends

in the financial position of a company. In common-size statement each item is stated as a percentage of the total, of which that item is a part. Each percentage exhibits the relation of the individual item to its respective total. Therefore it represents a type of ratio analysis. Preparation of common size statement involves two steps:

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1. 2.

State the total of the statement as 100 per cent Compute the ratio of each statement item to the statement total.

Ratio analysis. It can be defined as the indicated quotient of two mathematical

expressions. It shows the relation between two financial values. It is a comparative study in form of fractional factors. The different ratios are- Balance sheet ratio, ratio of current assets to current liability, Debt-Equity ratio Quick ratio, Liquidity ratio, Leverage ratio, Activity Ratios.

Funds flow statement. It is designed to highlight changes in the financial

condition of the business concern between two points of time of which generally conform to beginning and ending financial statement dates for whatever period of examination is relevant. While preparing fund flow statement we consider two aspects i.e. inflow of funds and Outflow of funds. Thus, Fund flow statement is a report which summarises between the two accounting periods. the events taking place

Profit planning. Profit planning is a systematic and formalized approach of

determining the effects of managements plan upon the companys profitability. In order to undertake planning for profits finance manager makes projections of outflows and inflows of the enterprise. The essential inflows of an enterprise are man, capital, and materials and they are generally cost incurring factors. On the other hand, the planned outflows are products, services and social contributions that the enterprise generates. Having projected Inflows and Outflows the management manipulates the combinations of inflows and planned outflows so that the ultimate goal of the enterprise is achieved. Profit planning is a decisional tool involves establishment of specific goals for the enterprise, development of long range profit plans and short range annual profit plans which are prepared after integrating sales plan, production plan, administrative sales budget, distribution expense budget, etc.

Break even analysis. It is an analytical technique employed for studying the cost
volume profit relationship in an enterprise. This analysis is employed to determine the level of operations at which a company will neither make a profit nor loss. A profit seeking venture must reach the Break Even Point (BEP) before going further to earn a profit. If a company has not reached the point, it means it has suffered loss. By
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determining this point the company can assess precisely how it is actually away from that point. If a company is operating at a level above the BEP, it indicates that the enterprise is making profit. BEP Analysis can be made in two ways- by the equation technique and by the unit contribution technique.

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CHAPTER-2

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

There have been various objectives for this study, the first of which is a detailed analysis of the financial statements that is the balance sheet and the income statement of Business Standard Ltd as well as its Business Analysis. The second objective, however the most important one or in other word the principle aim of this project is the understanding and assessment of financial ratios based on the statements of the company. The next aim of the project is to recognize the position of the company through those ratios and data available. This recognition is a leading factor in changes of each and every company and the base and root of lots of management decisions.

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CHAPTER-3

IMPORTANCE OF STUDY

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IMPORTANCEOFSTUDY
This project will help the Business Standard Ltd. to implement necessary steps to improve the market share especially in Lucknow. It will also help to Organization to find out weak points compare to Economic Times. The study is about Comparative Analysis between Business Standard and Economic Times. The main competitor of Business Standard is Economic Times therefore this study will help to Business Standard Ltd. to know the readers view about both the newspapers and what Consumer wants from business standard newspaper.

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NEWS PAPER
A newspaper is a regularly scheduled publication containing news, information, and advertising. By 2007 there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a day. The worldwide recession of 2008, combined with the rapid growth of web-based alternatives, causes the serious decline in advertising and circulation, as many papers closed or sharply retrenched operations. General-interest newspapers typically publish stories on local and national political events and personalities, crime, business, entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing editorials written by an editor and columns that express the personal opinions of writers. Other features include display and classified advertising, comics, and inserts from local merchants. The newspaper is typically funded by paid subscriptions and advertising. A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers, including editorial opinions, criticism, persuasion and op-ads; obituaries; entertainment features such as crosswords, Sudoku and horoscopes; weather news and forecasts; advice, food and other columns; reviews of movies, plays and restaurants; classified ads; display ads, editorial cartoons etc.

Categories

While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers and sports newspapers. More specialists still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas; these may serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay community

DAILY
A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday and, where they exist, Sunday editions of daily newspapers tend to be larger, include more specialized sections and advertising inserts, and cost more. Typically, the majority of these newspapers staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers.

WEEKLY
Weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases, there also are newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the United States, such newspapers are generally still classified as weeklies.

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NATIONAL
Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local Newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, the Sun, The Daily Express and The Daily Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few national newspapers. Almost every market has one or two newspapers that dominate the area. Certain newspapers, notably The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the US, and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada are available throughout the country. In India, newspapers like the Times of India, The Hindu, and the Hindustan Times are extremely popular and have large reader bases. Large metropolitan newspapers have also expanded distribution networks and with effort can be found outside their normal area.

INTERNATIONAL
There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterized as international newspapers. Some, such as The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or "international editions" of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers. As English became the international language of business and technology, many newspapers formerly published only in non-English languages have also developed English-language editions. In places as varied as Jerusalem and Mumbai, newspapers are printed to a local and international English-speaking public. The advent of the Internet has also allowed the nonEnglish newspapers to put out a scaled-down English version to give their newspaper a global outreach.

Some of the National Newspapers Of India

English Dailies
The Times of India Hindustan Times The Hindu The Deccan Chronicle The Telegraph The Statesman Daily News and Analysis The Pioneer The Economic Times The Tribune The Indian Express Deccan Herald The New Indian Express Asian Age.

Hindi Dailies
Dainik Jagran Dainik Bhaskar Hindustan Amar Ujala Rajasthan Patrika Punjab Kesari (Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) Prabhat Khabar Navbharat Times Nava Bharat

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research framework: This study is based on the data about BUSINESS STANDARD LTD for a detailed study of its financial statements, documents and system ratios and finally to recognize and determine the position of the company.

Types of data which helped to prepare this report:

1. First type is the primary data which was collected personally to be used and studied to prepare and reach the objectives already mentioned. 2. The secondary data which was already prepared so these data was only used to reach the aims and objectives of this project. These data has been collected from the financial reports of the company.

How the data was collected:

The sources of collecting the primary data was through interviews, observation and questionnaire, however the secondary one was collected from the financial statements already available to the employees of the company and some of which was published.

A) Questionnaire:
This method of data collection is quite popular. In this method a questionnaire which consists a set of questions in a definite form -is send to the person concerned with a request to answer the questions and return the questionnaire. The respondents have to answer the questions on their own. For the purpose of fulfilling different parts of my project, I prepared a limited number of questionnaires. These questionnaires were e-mailed to the related persons in the company.

B) Personal Interview:
Personal Interview method requires a person known as the interviewer asking questions generally in a face to face contact to the other person or persons.In some cases, I had the chance to ask my questions personally from the Head of Accounts department and Head of HR Department regarding the information I needed. Different questions and information I could collect during these two methods are: 1. The beginning and history of the Business Standard Limited.
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2. Numbers of staff working for different departments. 3. The mission & vision of the company. 4. Areas of operations 5. Other company related information.

C) Printed and Digital Sources:

The secondary data I collected was through the study of the financial statements already existed in the company in form of printed files or digital files reserved in the company for further references. I had chosen these files because of the reliability and suitability of these information which I was also sure about the accuracy of them. These files consist of: 1. Annual report of the company 2. Financial balance sheets 3. Income statements 4. Financial reports 5. Different reports prepared by Finance Department

Research Instrument
The Questionnaire is the most common instrument used in collecting primary data for the study. It was used for consumer survey, which helps in study. The types of questions in the questionnaire are:

1) Multiple choice questions 2) Rating Questions

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3) Likert scale questions 4) Open ended question

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 Establishment and History Growth and Business of Business Standard Personnel Organizational Structure Landmarks and Achievements

COMPANY PROFILE
ESTABLISHMENT AND HISTORY
Business Standard was started in 1975 by the Ananda Bazaar group in Kolkata previously Calcutta, the paper was hived off as a separate company in 1996, and then bought by Mumbaibased financial investors, after which it began a phase of rapid expansion with the launch of new editions. T.N. Ninan has been the editor since 1993, after he moved over from the editorship of The Economic Times. Today Business Standard is owned by Kotak Mahindra group having head office at Nehru House, 4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi.

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GROWTH AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS STANDARD

Business Standard is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published by Business Standard Ltd (BSL) in two languages, English and Hindi. The Newspaper primarily covers India and international business, and financial news and issues. The main Englishlanguage edition comes from 12 regional centres, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune, and Lucknow.Business Standard sells 144,000 copies daily in English, mostly to the business and policy-making lite. The Hindi edition sells 53,000 copies daily. ACNielsen's survey of the upper middle and rich market in India Places Business Standard next to The Economic Times in total readership. The paper has a reputation for reliable reporting and responsible journalism, as well as for its stimulating page of analysis and editorial comment. It has pioneered the ranking of the wealthiest Indians (the Billionaire Club) and provides an automobile magazine as a free monthly supplement. In 2006, BSL began to produce a Sunday edition that is now published in four centres. The Hindi edition was launched in February 2008 from seven centre stretching from Mumbai in the west, running across the Hindi Belt, and to Kolkata in the east (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Bhopal and Chandigarh). The newspaper's website, businessstandard.com, allows visitors to access the Business Standard e-paper, with a choice of editions. The Business Standard Website receives 1.5 million unique users per month, the highest for any "stand alone" newspaper website in India. In January 2010, it launched smartinvestor.in, an information-cum-trading website for

Those interested in the stock market.

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CONTENT
Comprehensive and in-depth analysis of business news.BS 200- Covering the most traded stocks with evaluation across 22 parameters.4 full pages focusing totally on stocks and mutual funds.4 pages everyday of finance and commodity news, providing insights you can act on for half the BS 200 companies.2 pages of investment advice and articles to manage personal finance every weekday. Thought provoking editorial opinion that is highly regarded for its unbiased viewpoint and refreshing originality.BS is published Monday to Saturday in all locations. On Sundays, the paper is published from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Bangalore. Extensive coverage of the markets has been BSs forte and is eagerly consumed by investors big and small. To cater to needs of the retail investor, special focus has been provided in the form of extensive coverage on Personal Finance and a dedicated page on investing (The Smart Investor).

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PERSONNEL
T. N. Ninan was editor from 1993 to 2009, when he took up the editorship of The Economic Times. In January 2010, Ninan became chairman and editorial director of BSL and was succeeded as editor of Business Standard by Dr Sanjaya Baru. He was the media advisor of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The paper which is India's 2nd largest business daily employs around 200 business journalists, including A K Bhattacharya and Shyamal Majumdar. In establishing a pedigree of strong financial journalism, Business Standard has its regular coloumnist like, Bimal Jalan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor to the Government of India; Deepak Lal, professor of economics, UCLA; Suman Bery, director-general, National Council of Applied Economic Research; Abheek Barua , chief economist of HDFC Bank; Nitin Desai, former chief economic advisor and former under-secretary general at the United Nations ;Surjit Bhalla, chairman of OXUS; Arvind Subramanian, profess or at The Peterson Institute for International Economics; M. Govinda Rao, director of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; AV Rajwade, foreign exchange consultant; and Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors.

SUPPLIMENTS OF BUSINESS STANDARD BUSINESS STANDARD

SUPPLIMENT S
Smart Investors (Every Monday) The Strategist (Every Tuesday) Weekend (Every Saturday)

MAGAZINES
The Fund Manager The Billionaire Club Banking Annual BS 1000

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CIRCULATION CHAIN (LUCKNOW)

VICE PRESIDENT BRANCH HEAD TERITORY INCHARGE CUSTOMER EXCUTIVE SALES MAN VENDORS READERS

(From top to bottom)

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PRODUCTION CHAIN

Raw Materials Printing

Packaging Dispatch through Taxi Different Cities All Centre in Cities Selling Vendor Reader

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BUSINESS STANDARD; an Overview

Type Format Owner Founder Publisher Editor Editor-in-chief Founded Language Headquarters Circulation Official website

Daily newspaper Broadsheet Kotak Mahindra Bank Ananda Publishers Business Standard Ltd Mr. Sanjaya Baru Mr. A. K. Bhattacharya (At Present) 16th December, 1970 English Hindi Nehru House, 4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110002 217000 www.business-standard.com hindi.business-standard.com

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INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMIC TIMES

The Economic Times is an English-language Indian daily newspaper published by the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.. The Economic Times was started in 1961 Times is published simultaneously from 12 citiesMumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chandigarh, and Pune. The Economic Times launched in 1961.The founder /editor of the paper when it was launched in1961 was P.S.Hariharan. The current executive editor of the paper is Rahul Joshi. It is the largest financial daily and the worlds second largest financial daily after The World Street Journal. It is published by Indias largest media group, Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd,(this company alongwith its other group companies is more popularly known as The Times Group),which also publishes T he Times of India ,T he Navbharat Times, T he Maharashtra Times, Femina and Film fare. The Economic Times has its offices in Mumbai outside Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus Railway station. Its main content is based on the Indian economy, share prices, process of commodities as well as other matters related to finance. The Economic times is characterized by its Salmon-pink paper, all of which is recycled. It is also the favourite newspaper among the citys business houses. It is sold in all major cities in India. It is the most popular and widely read financial daily in India, read by more than 8 lakh (800,000) people.

BUSINESS AND GROWTH

The Economic Times has its offices in Mumbai at THE TIMES OF INDIA building, Dr. D. N. Road. Its main content is based on the Indian economy, International finance, share prices, prices of commodities as well as other matters related to finance. The founder- editor of the paper when it was launched in 1961 was P.S. Hariharan. The current Editorial Director of The Economic Times and ET Now is Rahul Joshi.

Special Edition
The Economic Times on Sunday was revamped and now dons a new format, style and regular features on great personal content in 2011. The fresher edition hosts a variety of material not found during the weekdays. The special edition on all Sundays contains, namely: "what's news", "news in numbers", "behind the news", "spotlight", "cover story",
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"expert view", "economy", "centrespread", "travel guide", "food & drink", "recommended" and finally "feel smart". 'feel smart" generally hosts a "Cocktail Conversations" article which describes a definite difference between terms, objects, persons and abstract views which are normally considered to be the same. It also contains "Behind the Lines" which gives a brief crisis that had occurred in the past, explains the crisis and the solution derived and finally gives an overview in the form of a lesson.

SUPPLEMENTS
Brand Equity (Weekly): a weekly colour supplement that appears every Wednesday, which covers marketing, advertising, media and market research. Edited by Ravi Balakrishnan and Vinod Mahanta Corporate. Dossier is a supplement that appears every Friday along with The Economic Times, aimed at the CEOs of corporate India, with a special focus on management and strategy. Edited by Vinod Mahanta. ET Travel is a weekly all-colour supplement which covers travel and tourism aimed at the burgeoning band of Indians who want to see and know about their country and the rest of the world, through Indian eyes. Zig Wheels is a weekly all-colour supplement covering all aspects from the auto industry from new launches and trends to ancillaries and personalities. ET Realty: a real estate supplement ET Wealth : a personal finance weekly newspaper. Investor's Guide: analysis of equities, funds, ULIPs, Sectors etc.

Editors
1960s and 1970s: PS Hariharan (19611964), DK Rangnekar (19641979) 1980s: Hannan Ezekiel, Manu Shroff (19851990) Early to mid 1990s: T. N. Ninan, Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar Late 1990s: Jaideep Bose 2004: Rajrishi Singhal and Rahul Joshi 2010 to present: Rahul Joshi and Rohit Saran

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ECONOMIC TIMES: An overview

Type Format Owner Publisher Founded Political alignment Language Headquarters Daily Newspaper Broadsheet Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The Times Group 1961 Conservative English Times House 7 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,New Delhi, Delhi 110002, India 630,000 Daily

Circulation Sister newspapers Official website

The Times of India,Maharashtra Times

economictimes.indiatimes.com

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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Data interpretation can be defined as applying statistical procedures to analyze specific facts from a study or body of research. Data interpretation questionnaire a part of many standardized tests. Data interpretation is sometime also called data analysis.

BUSINESS DAILY PREFERENCES

Business Standard 30% 33% 27% 47% Economic Times 40% 40% 40% 20% Business Line 20% 20% 20% 13% Financial Express 10% 7% 13% 20%

Management Students and Professors(A) Corporate Professionals(B) CAs(C) Investors and Stock Brokers(D)

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% A B C D

Business Standard Economic Times

It is evident from the above data that the Economic Times is most favoured by Management Students, professors and corporate professionals while Business Standard is most favoured by CAs, Investors and Stock Brokers.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING SELLS

Number of Consumers (in %) Contents 65%

Availability 15% Cost Services Others 10% 7% 3%

70%

60%
50%

40%
30%

20%
10%

0%
Contents Availablity Cost Services Others

INTEPRETATION:- From the above study, we came to know that sale of newspaper is influenced by 65%, availability by 15%,cost by 10%, services by 7%, and others by 3%.

by content

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BUSINESS NEWSPAPRER PREFERRED SINCE

Business Standard Less than 6 months More than 6 months. But less than 1 year More than 1 year 9% Economic Times 6%

18%

10%

73%

84%

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 9%6% 18% 10%

84% 73%

Business Standard Economic Times

6 mnth< >6mnth,1 yr.< >1 yr.

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INTERPRETATION: From the past one year Business Standard is preferred more than Economic Times.

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COMPARISION BETWEEN BUSINESS STANDARD AND ECONOMIC TIMES

Business Standard (in%) Average Good Very Good 30 30 40

Economic Times (in%) 35 35 30

40% 40% 35% 35% 30% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% AVERAGE GOOD VERY GOOD
ECONOMIC TIMES BUSINESS STANDARD

35% 30% 30%

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INTETPRETATION: From the above data analysis it is clear that Business Standard has more favourable market than Economic Times.

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PAPER COST

BUSINESS STANDARD (IN Rs.) Cost per Week( Mon to Sat.) 6 months Subscription 1 Year Subscription 23.50

ECONOMIC TIMES (IN Rs.) 25

400 750

450 800

800 600

1 YEAR, 800 1 YEAR, 750

6 Mths., 450 6 Mths., 400 400 200 COST/WEEK, 25 COST/WEEK, 23.5 0 COST/WEEK

BUSINESS STANDARD ECONOMIC TIMES

1 YEAR

INTERPRETATION: Business Standard is more readers friendly in term of finance.

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AVERAGE QUALIFYING CIRCULATION

The revealed data is compared for Lucknow Editions only. BUSINESS STANDARD JAN.JUNE2011 JULYDEC.2011 7170 11208 ECONOMIC TIMES 6339 10317

12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 JANJULYJUNE'2011 DEC'2011

BUSINESS STANDARD ECONOMIC TIMES

The decrease in sales can be given as follows:For Business Standard For Economic Times (7170-6339) = 831 (11208-10317)= 891

INTERPRETATION: Economic times suffered comparatively more sales deficit.

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FINDINGS
The above analysis reveals the growing publicity and popularity of Business Standard among the various section of readers. During the survey the data shows that Business Standard is having excellent quality and content as compared to any other news paper. Business standard is lacking brand awareness in some area and lacking in service in some areas. Individual Investors and stock brokers are the majority users of Business Standard among all the respondents. Majority of the respondents use Economic Times because of bundle offer with Times of India which is Rs. 450 for 6 months for both news papers. Economic Times has the benefit of Times of Indias distribution channel because of which it is able to save more distribution expenses. Most of the business daily readers are reading it from more than 1 year.

It is found that Business Standards editorial part is better than any other business daily. Business Standards daily supplements Money and Markets influence most to Individual investors/ Stock Brokers to purchase it. Most of the readers are also want Business Standard on Sunday because they like newspaper on Sunday and this is only business daily which is not having Sunday subscription in Lucknow. The subscription cost for Business Standard is lower than the Economic Times without any compromise in quality and the quantity of the news around the economic world. The Economic Times is a potential firm along with its other sister firms. On the other hand business Standard is a growing firm and snatching the market shares of its competing counterparts.

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SUGGESTIONS
Business Standard Ltd. should conduct a series of programs like business quiz etc. among management student and Institution of twin cities. The company should focus on retention of customers because getting a new customer is more costly. Business Standard should start its Sunday edition with some better strategies than its competitors who is charging more on the Sunday edition. The company should improve quality of service and the marketing strategies in terms of advertising, so that the awareness of brand level can be increased in market. Business Standard uses Eenadus distribution channel for distributing news paper to its customers but there are so many people who are not receiving there copy after completing subscription process. Business Standard Ltd. should conduct a series of programs like business quiz, B-School Promotion etc. among management student and Institution of Lucknow City. The company should focus on retention of customers because getting a new customer is more costly.

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CONCLUSION
After analysing the market of Lucknow I came to know that Business newspapers has become the need of every person to grow. In comparison with Economic Times, Business Standard is better in many ways like magazines, weekly issues, etc published by Business Standard. I also got to know that from past one year Business Standard has been preferred than Economic Times. During my training we visited printing press of Indian express where business standard is also getting printed almost 30,000 daily copies of BS in Hindi/English are getting printed in Lucknow and are circulated in different regions of Uttarpradesh. It was an experience in itself by visiting that printing press. In most of the b-schools the demand of Business Standard is high because of its content and articles on Marketing, HR, and Finance etc. Not only in the field of education but also for business purposes has it been preferred by the people of Lucknow more. Quality of service is very important in this industry to get success. In this, Business Standard is lacking behind when compared to other business dailies. The market value of Business Standard has been arise in last one year Because of some of its new features and content taken up by the team for making it a better newspaper. Business Standards content, quality and supplements are very good and was liked by business daily customers. The company should follow the saying if you are not updated, then you are outdated

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.google.com www.businessstandard.com www.economictimes.com www.wikipedia.com www.scribd.com www.managementstudyguide.com
R.M Srivastava: Financial Management Phlip Kotlar: Marketing Management Research Methodology: C.R Kothari Business Today Business Standard Office (Lucknow)

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QUESTIONAIRE
PERSONAL DETAILS

NAME . PROFESSION ........ GENDER ...... ADDRESS .... ... CONTACT NO. .. 1.Which financial paper do you read regularly a. Economic Times b. Business Standard c. Business Line d. Financial Express

2. Which of the following factors affects the selling of newspapers the most a. Contents b. Availability c. Cost d. Others 3. Which Newspaper is better according to you
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a. Business Standard b. Economic Times c. Business Line d. Financial Express e. Others, Then specify the name

3. How do you compare the Editorial qualities BUSINESS STANDARD Average Good Very Good ECONOMIC TIMES

4. How do you rate BS v/s ET over Supplements? BUSINESS STANDARD Average Good Very Good 5. Which one has better Promotional Offers Business Standard Economic Times 6. Do you like to give any welcome suggestion for the betterment of this news News paper Yes No If yes, then give your Remark here.
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ECONOMIC TIMES