The Indian Express

History

In 1932, the Indian Express was started by an Ayurvedic doctor, P. Varadarajulu Naidu, at Chennai, being published by his Tamil Nadu press. Soon under financial difficulties, he sold the newspaper to Swaminathan Sadanand, the founder of The Free Press Journal, a national news agency. In 1933, the Indian Express opened its second office in Madurai, launching the Tamil edition, Dinamani. Sadanand introduced several innovations and reduced the price of the newspaper. Faced with financial difficulties, he sold a part of his stake to Goenka as convertible debentures. In 1935, when The Free Press Journal finally collapsed, and after a protracted court battle with Goenka, Sadanand lost ownership of Indian Express. In 1939, Goenka bought Andhra Prabha, another prominent Telugu daily newspaper. The name Three Musketeers was often used for the three dailies, namely Indian Express, Dinamani and Andhra Prabha.

In 1940, the whole premises was gutted by fire. The Hindu, a rival newspaper, helped considerably in re-launching the paper, by lenting their old building and allowing getting it printed temporarily at one of its Swadesimithran's press and later offered its recently vacated premises at 2 Mount Road, on rent to Goenka, which later became the landmark Express Estates. This relocation also helped the Express obtain better high speed printing machines. The district judge who led the inquiry into the fire concluded that a short circuit or cigarette butt could have ignited the fire and said that the growing city had inadequate fire control support. In 1952, the paper had a circulation of 44,469.

After Goenka's death in 1991, two of his grandsons, Manoj Kumar Sonthalia and Viveck Goenka split the group into two. Indian Express Mumbai with all the North Indian editions went to Viveck Goenka, and all the Southern editions, which were grouped as Express Publications Madurai Limited and headquartered in Chennai, went to Sonthalia. Indian Express began publishing daily on the internet on 8 July 1996. Five months later, the website expressindia.com attracted "700,000 hits every day, excepting weekends when it fell to 60% of its normal levels".

Circulation

According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2017, the Indian Express is the sixth most read English newspaper with a readership of nearly 1.6 million readers.

Controversies

In May 2020, the Indian Express reported that the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police had determined that an audio clip shared on WhatsApp, which was presented as a recording of Saad Kandhlawi asking Tablighi Jamaat members to disregard social distancing recommendations for a religious congregation during the COVID-19 pandemic, had been "doctored". The Bureau of Police Research and Development subsequently listed the audio clip as an example of "fake news and disinformation vectors" in a report and retracted it one day later. In response, the Delhi Police posted on Twitter that the Indian Express article was incorrect and summoned the reporter for questioning. The Indian Express replied on Twitter that they had contacted Special Commissioner of Police Praveer Ranjan for comment and that Ranjan did not respond before the article's publication.

In 2022, Indian Express published a piece in its newspaper claiming that the director generals of few Indian paramilitary forces were not invited to the Republic Day parade. The concerned forces later clarified that the news was incorrect and the director generals had attended the event. The CRPF, said that the "information published in The Indian Express that DG CRPF was not invited to Republic Day Parade is not just incorrect but also ill intended and insulting to the Force. Shri Kuldiep Singh, DG CRPF, was invited to the Republic Day Parade which he attended".

In February 2025, Dr. Shashi Tharoor accused Indian Express of manipulation of his speech. Indian Express swiftly reported in English that Tharoor said during the podcast that he has “other options” if his party no longer needs him. He accused the newspaper of running a “fake news story claiming I had decried the absence of a leader” in the Kerala Congress.

References

References

1. "Express Group Editorial". The Indian Express.
2. "Ramnath Goenka".
3. Katiyar. (March 31, 1995). "Rs 220 crore Indian Express group of late media baron Ramnath Goenka splits".
4. (2024-07-03). "Who Owns Your Media?".
5. Kaminsky, Arnold. (30 September 2011). "India Today- an encyclopedia of life in the republic". Abc-Clio.
6. (2017-11-06). "1940 – The year of Fires".
7. (2 July 1952). "The Indian Press Today". [[Institute of Pacific Relations]].
8. "Express Group".
9. "Manoj Kumar Sonthalia vs Vivek Goenka And Ors. on 9 March, 1995".
10. "Manoj Kumar Sonthalia v Vivek Goenka and Others on 09 March 1995 - Judgement - LawyerServices".
11. "Indian Express - Awards".
12. "The Indian Express".
13. "Indian Express Personal Ad Rates and Online Booking for Newspaper".
14. Indian Express Advertising Rate Card, ReleaseMyAd. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
15. (10 May 2020). "Tablighi FIR: Police probe indicates Saad audio clip was doctored".
16. (11 May 2020). "Delhi Police Summons Journo Over 'Tablighi FIR Fake Audio' Report".
17. (11 May 2020). "Delhi police summon Indian Express journalist for reporting on Tablighi Jamaat head's 'doctored' audio clip".
18. (11 May 2020). "Tablighi FIR: Journalist Claims Maulana Saad Audio Clip Doctored, Police Deny Report, Summon Reporter".
19. Agencies. (30 January 2022). "All CAPF DGs were invited, attended R-Day Parade 2022: Officials".
20. "All CAPF DGs were invited, attended R-Day Parade 2022: Officials".
21. Team, N. L.. (2025-02-27). "‘Scant regard for accuracy, lust for clickbait’: Shashi Tharoor slams Indian Express, state of journalism".
22. Newslaundry. (2025-02-28). "‘Scant regard for accuracy, lust for clickbait’: Shashi Tharoor slams Indian Express, state of journalism".