Lokmat Newspaper History: Rise of a Marathi Media Giant
Lokmat newspaper history: a 1918 Yavatmal weekly, the Nagpur daily of 15 Dec 1971, editions across Maharashtra, Lokmat Times, Samachar and its TV exit.
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Lokmat began as a weekly in Yavatmal in 1918, with a name credited to Lokmanya Tilak. Freedom fighter Jawaharlal Darda revived it after independence and, on 15 December 1971, turned it into a daily from Nagpur. Over the next four decades it opened editions across Maharashtra and Goa, added English and Hindi papers, put Marathi news online in 1998 and launched a TV channel in 2008. This is the Lokmat newspaper history in order, with edition launch dates from the company’s own SEBI filing, its readership claims checked and labelled, its controversies included, and the 2025 sale of its TV stake.
💡 Short Answer
Lokmat started as a weekly in Yavatmal in 1918, founded by Bapuji Aney and named by Lokmanya Tilak. Jawaharlal Darda revived it as a weekly in 1953, made it a bi-weekly in 1960 and launched the daily from Nagpur on 15 December 1971. It added editions from Jalgaon (1977) to Goa (2009), Lokmat Times in English (1987) and Lokmat Samachar in Hindi (1989), and the IBN Lokmat channel in 2008. IRS 2017 put its readership at 18.86 million, the most of any Marathi daily. In October 2025 it sold its TV stake to Network18.
Lokmat History: Key Questions
Lokmat in Ten Points
- 1918: weekly Lokmat starts in Yavatmal, named by Tilak; it later closes under British suppression.
- 1 May 1953: Jawaharlal Darda revives the weekly; it becomes a bi-weekly in 1960.
- 15 Dec 1971: the Nagpur daily, the start of the modern Lokmat.
- 1973–74: Lokmat Newspapers Pvt Ltd takes over from the family partnership.
- 1977–1999: editions in Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Solapur, Nashik, Akola, Mumbai, Kolhapur and Pune.
- 1987 and 1989: Lokmat Times in English and Lokmat Samachar in Hindi, not the 2000s.
- 1998 and 2005: a Marathi website, then an e-paper.
- 2008: IBN Lokmat, a 50-50 TV venture with Network18; sold to Network18 in 2025.
- 2017: 18.86 million readers in IRS 2017, the most of any Marathi daily.
- Controversies: the 2015 ISIS cartoon apology and the 2023 coal block sentence on Vijay and Devendra Darda, suspended on appeal.
Two Founders, One Name
The name is a century old. The newspaper most readers know is from 1971.
Bapuji Aney and Tilak
Loknayak Bapuji Aney started weekly Lokmat in Yavatmal in 1918, a nationalist paper of the freedom struggle; Lokmanya Tilak gave it its name. It closed under British suppression around the Jungle Satyagraha.
Jawaharlal ‘Babuji’ Darda
Born in 1923 and jailed during Quit India, Darda revived the weekly after independence, made it a daily from Nagpur in 1971 and served as a Maharashtra minister for more than two decades. He died on 25 November 1997.
The Lokmat Timeline, 1918–2026
Newest first. Tags mark expansion, readership claims, controversies and turning points. Where sources disagree, we say so.
2025
Lokmat leaves television Turning point
Network18’s board approved buying every share, preference share and debenture that Lokmat Media held in IBN Lokmat News Pvt Ltd, the company behind the Marathi channel News18 Lokmat, for Rs 25 crore in cash. Network18’s filing describes the channel as the leader in Marathi news and gives its operating revenue as Rs 22.5 crore, Rs 31.1 crore and Rs 36.5 crore for the three years to March 2025. Completion was expected by the end of October 2025. After 17 years, Lokmat’s own television era ended; the channel keeps the Lokmat name.
2025
The circulation crown is contested Readership claim
Sakal announced that Audit Bureau of Circulations data for January to June 2025 gave it an average daily circulation of 11,42,574, the highest of any Marathi newspaper, ahead of Lokmat, Loksatta and Pudhari. Lokmat’s figure for the period was not published in that announcement. Readership surveys have put Lokmat first for years; audited sales are a separate measure, and on that measure Lokmat’s lead is no longer uncontested.
2023
The coal block case Controversy
A special court in Delhi convicted former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda and businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal of cheating in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh to JLD Yavatmal Energy, and on 26 July 2023 sentenced each to four years in prison. The Delhi High Court granted interim bail two days later and on 26 September 2023 suspended the sentences until their appeals are decided. The case involved a power company, not the newspaper, but it involved the family that controls it.
2023
The Golden Jubilee goes national Turning point
Union Home Minister Amit Shah was chief guest in Nagpur at the celebration of Jawaharlal Darda’s birth centenary and 50 years of the Nagpur edition, with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Vijay Darda. According to the Press Information Bureau, Shah said Lokmat had become India’s sixth-largest newspaper, number one in Maharashtra and Goa, reaching 2.25 crore readers a day, and that more than six crore viewers watched its TV channel. These are figures from a speech, not an audit. Shah also described the paper’s path as ‘monthly to fortnightly, weekly and daily’; the group’s own history says weekly, then bi-weekly, then daily.
2021
Fifty years in Nagpur Turning point
The Nagpur edition turned 50. During the Golden Jubilee year the group digitised the first issue of 15 December 1971 and released replicas of its front and last pages at its printing plant in Butibori, near Nagpur. In that first issue Jawaharlal Darda had quoted the Marathi poet Vinayak: those whose past is noble have a bright future.
2017
IBN Lokmat becomes News18 Lokmat Expansion
As part of Network18’s rebranding of its regional channels, IBN Lokmat was renamed News18 Lokmat. Ownership did not change: it remained a 50-50 joint venture with Lokmat until 2025.
18.86 million readers Readership claim
The Indian Readership Survey 2017, as reproduced in IIMC’s Communicator journal in 2018, put Lokmat’s total readership at 18.86 million, the largest of any Marathi daily and nearly twice Sakal’s 10.5 million. The same article found Marathi press readership grew by 31% between IRS 2014 and IRS 2017. Total readership counts anyone who read the paper in a longer recall period; it is a historical survey figure, not a current audience.
The ISIS cartoon Controversy
An illustration of a piggy bank published alongside an article on how Islamic State was funded was read by some Muslim groups as offensive. Protesters attacked Lokmat offices in Jalgaon, Dhule, Nandurbar, Malegaon and other towns. An FIR was registered against the owners, the cartoonist and the editor, police increased security at Lokmat offices across Maharashtra, and the newspaper published an apology saying action had been taken. Newslaundry called it a sign of ‘the sorry state of press freedom in India’.
Lokmat Media, and an IPO that never came Expansion
Lokmat Newspapers became Lokmat Media Pvt Ltd on 21 September 2010 and a public company, Lokmat Media Ltd, on 22 November 2010, and filed a draft prospectus with SEBI for an initial public offering. The filing is the most detailed public record of the group: 12 printing plants with capacity of about 891,000 copies an hour, 8,461 distribution agents, and average daily readership up from about 6.70 million (IRS 2007) to 7.81 million (IRS 2010). The company relaunched its Pune edition in January 2010 and released its first Marathi film, Jetaa, in August. It did not list; the company is today again Lokmat Media Pvt Ltd.
2009
Goa: first edition outside Maharashtra Expansion
Lokmat launched a Marathi edition in Goa, printed at Panaji, its first outside Maharashtra. The company said that within a year it had become the leading Marathi daily there. The same year it put Lokmat Samachar and Lokmat Times on e-paper and moved into films.
2008
IBN Lokmat goes on air Turning point
IBN Lokmat, a 24-hour Marathi news and current-affairs channel, went on air. It was run by IBN Lokmat News Pvt Ltd, a 50-50 joint venture between Lokmat and Network18’s ibn18 Broadcast, incorporated on 11 June 2007. For the first time, the newspaper could break news by the minute rather than by the morning.
2006
E-paper, a stamp and a magazine Expansion
Lokmat began publishing an e-paper in 2005. On 2 December 2005 Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat released a commemorative postage stamp on Jawaharlal Darda, and a year later unveiled his statue in Yavatmal. In December 2006 the group launched G2, The Global Gujarati, an English lifestyle magazine.
2000
Founder dies; Mumbai, Pune and the web Expansion
Jawaharlal Darda died on 25 November 1997, and his sons Vijay and Rajendra Darda took charge. Expansion sped up: Akola (16 March 1998), Mumbai (1 May 1998, Maharashtra Day), Kolhapur (12 October 1998) and Pune (13 September 1999). In 1998 Lokmat launched a Marathi website, years before most regional papers. Its Yuva Manch (1997) and Sakhi Manch for women (2000) turned readers into members.
1996
Solapur and Nashik Expansion
Editions followed in Solapur and Nashik. By IRS 2010 Lokmat led Marathi readership in both cities. In most markets Lokmat entered as a challenger from Vidarbha, against papers rooted in Pune and Mumbai.
1989
Lokmat Samachar, in Hindi Expansion
The group launched Lokmat Samachar, a Hindi daily, from Nagpur. The company’s profile lists three editions. With Lokmat Times two years earlier, Lokmat was now a three-language publisher.
Lokmat Times and Ahmednagar Expansion
On 30 March 1987 the group launched Lokmat Times, an English daily, from Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar). On Independence Day the Marathi paper added an Ahmednagar edition. The move beyond Marathi came in the 1980s, not the 2000s.
1982
Aurangabad, the Marathwada base Expansion
Lokmat entered Marathwada with an Aurangabad edition. By IRS 2010 it had about 1.38 million average daily readers there, more than double second-placed Sakal, its strongest market in the state.
1977
Jalgaon: the second edition Expansion
The first Lokmat edition outside Nagpur opened in Jalgaon, in Khandesh, exactly six years after the Nagpur daily. The pattern was set: local printing, local correspondents and local news, rather than a city paper trucked in from Mumbai or Pune.
1974
From partnership to company Expansion
The paper had been run by a partnership firm, Lokmat Yeotmal, whose partners were Jawaharlal Darda, his wife Veenadevi Darda and son Vijay Darda. Lokmat Newspapers Pvt Ltd was incorporated in Mumbai on 21 June 1973, and the publishing business moved into it with effect from 1 January 1974.
1971
The Nagpur daily Turning point
Jawaharlal Darda regretted that Nagpur had no daily of national outlook, so he published one. The first Nagpur edition of Lokmat appeared on 15 December 1971. Marathi papers of the time were printed in Mumbai and Pune and transported outward; Lokmat, in Vijay Darda’s phrase, went ‘against the tide’, recruiting rural correspondents, writing in everyday Marathi and building its own distribution. Nagpur remained its anchor: by IRS 2010 Lokmat had about 1.05 million daily readers there, three times Sakal.
Bi-weekly Expansion
Lokmat went from weekly to bi-weekly. More frequent issues built the reporting and production habits a daily would need.
1953
The weekly is revived Turning point
After independence Jawaharlal Darda revived the closed weekly. According to Vijay Darda’s history, publication of weekly Lokmat resumed from Yavatmal on 1 May 1953, with the support of Pandit Ravishankar Shukla, then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, which included Vidarbha until 1956. The company’s 2010 prospectus says the paper was transferred to Darda by its freedom-fighter owners in 1952, and some biographies date the weekly to that year.
Born in the freedom struggle Turning point
The first Lokmat was a weekly started in Yavatmal in 1918 by Loknayak Bapuji Aney, the Vidarbha leader later known as M.S. Aney. The name, meaning ‘public opinion’, is credited to Lokmanya Tilak. The weekly closed during British suppression around the Jungle Satyagraha of 1930. Jawaharlal Darda, born in 1923, joined the freedom movement at 17 and was jailed during Quit India; the Press Information Bureau records Amit Shah saying he spent almost two and a half years in prison.
From Weekly to Daily: pick a year and see what Lokmat was
Drag from 1918 to 2026. Green chips are Marathi Lokmat editions; violet chips are other papers, platforms and TV. Dates are from the group’s 2010 SEBI prospectus and its own history.
Every Lokmat Edition, With Its Launch Date
From Lokmat Media’s 2010 draft prospectus filed with SEBI, which also gives each market’s readership and rank in IRS 2010 Q3.
| Edition | Launched | Readers, IRS 2010 Q3 | Rank in market | Market leader then |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nagpur | 15 Dec 1971 | 1,045k | #1 | Lokmat |
| Jalgaon | 15 Dec 1977 | 652k | #1 | Lokmat |
| Aurangabad | 9 Jan 1982 | 1,376k | #1 | Lokmat |
| Ahmednagar | 15 Aug 1987 | 363k | #1 | Lokmat |
| Solapur | 24 Oct 1993 | 368k | #1 | Lokmat |
| Nashik | 20 Apr 1996 | 465k | #1 | Lokmat |
| Akola | 16 Mar 1998 | 464k | #2 | Deshonnati |
| Mumbai | 1 May 1998 | 954k | #2 | Maharashtra Times |
| Kolhapur | 12 Oct 1998 | 748k | #3 | Pudhari |
| Pune | 13 Sep 1999 (relaunched Jan 2010) | 1,375k | #2 | Sakal |
| Goa (Panaji) | 21 Apr 2009 | Not in IRS | – | – |
Biggest by which measure?
Lokmat is often called Maharashtra’s biggest newspaper. Pick a measure to see the figure, who says so, and what it does not prove.
The Readership Lead, Charted
The source of the “most-read Marathi daily” claim, exactly as published.
How Lokmat Became a Marathi Media Giant
Four choices explain most of the rise. None explains it alone.
Start where rivals were not
Marathi papers were printed in Mumbai and Pune and sent outward. Lokmat started in Nagpur and expanded to Jalgaon and Aurangabad before taking on Mumbai (1998) and Pune (1999), where it still ranked second in 2010.
A correspondent in every taluka
Vijay Darda’s history describes rural correspondents recruited from first-generation educated families, everyday Marathi and a distribution system of its own: 8,461 agents by 2010.
Three papers in one group
Lokmat Times (1987) and Lokmat Samachar (1989) let the group sell English and Hindi readers to advertisers in the same cities.
Early to the web, out of TV
A website in 1998, an e-paper in 2005 and a 17-year TV venture. The 2025 sale of the TV stake leaves print and digital as the core.
The Corporate Record
The dates behind the business, from filings rather than anniversaries.
| Date | Corporate event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jun 1973 | Lokmat Newspapers Pvt Ltd incorporated, Mumbai | SEBI prospectus |
| 1 Jan 1974 | Publishing moves from partnership Lokmat Yeotmal to the company | SEBI prospectus |
| 15 Sep 1988 | Becomes a deemed public company, Lokmat Newspapers Ltd | SEBI prospectus |
| 7 Mar 2002 | Converted back to a private company | SEBI prospectus |
| 11 Jun 2007 | IBN Lokmat News Pvt Ltd incorporated (50-50 with ibn18) | Network18 filing |
| 21 Sep 2010 | Renamed Lokmat Media Pvt Ltd | SEBI prospectus |
| 22 Nov 2010 | Becomes Lokmat Media Ltd, files draft IPO prospectus | SEBI prospectus |
| 15 Oct 2025 | Sells IBN Lokmat News stake to Network18 for Rs 25 crore | Network18 filing |
Lokmat in Numbers
Survey, audited, filed and spoken figures, kept apart and dated.
| Figure | What it measures | Source and date | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18.86m | Total readership | IRS 2017, via IIMC (2018) | Survey estimate; historical |
| 23.5m | Total readership | IRS 2012 Q4, cited by Lokmat | Company-cited |
| 7.81m | Average daily readership | IRS 2010 Q3, SEBI prospectus | Narrower than total readership |
| 1.3m | Average daily circulation | ABC Jul-Dec 2015, cited by Lokmat | Copies, not readers |
| 11,42,574 | Sakal’s daily circulation | ABC Jan-Jun 2025, per Sakal | Rival’s claim; Lokmat figure not given |
| 2.25 crore | Readers a day | Amit Shah speech, Feb 2023 | Not audited |
| 891,000/hr | Printing capacity, 12 plants | SEBI prospectus, 2010 | Capacity, not output |
| Rs 25 crore | Price for Lokmat’s TV stake | Network18 filing, Oct 2025 | Cash consideration |
Corrections and Clarifications
Claims in the brief this page was built from, checked against Vijay Darda’s history, the PIB release, Lokmat’s SEBI prospectus, IIMC, Network18’s filing and news reports.
“Lokmat’s roots lie in the 1950s”
The weekly was founded in 1918 by Bapuji Aney, with a name credited to Tilak; 1953 is when Jawaharlal Darda revived it. The company’s prospectus says the paper passed to him in 1952.
“2000s: moving beyond Marathi print”
Lokmat Times launched on 30 March 1987 and Lokmat Samachar on 14 January 1989, according to the company’s SEBI filing.
“2010s: digital news expands”
The Marathi website launched in 1998 and the e-paper in 2005. The 2010s were growth, not the start.
“Television-related media operations” today
Lokmat agreed in October 2025 to sell its 50% of IBN Lokmat News, owner of News18 Lokmat, to Network18 for Rs 25 crore.
“Exact edition dates require records”
Those records exist: the 2010 SEBI prospectus lists the launch date of every Lokmat edition. They are in the table above.
“Monthly and weekly stages”
The PIB release quotes Amit Shah describing a path ‘from monthly to fortnightly, weekly and daily’. The group’s own history says weekly (1953), bi-weekly (1960), daily (1971). We follow the group.
18.86 million readers, IRS 2017
The IIMC table does show 18,860 thousand. It is total readership, not daily readers or copies, and the same article’s magazine table repeats the identical numbers, so treat it as an approximate survey figure.
What the brief left out
The 1918 founding; the 1973 company; every edition date; the 2010 IPO filing; the 2015 cartoon row; the 2023 coal block sentence; Sakal’s 2025 circulation claim; and the 2025 TV exit.
What Comes Next
Lokmat’s history is a series of moves outward: from Yavatmal to Nagpur, from Nagpur across Maharashtra, from Marathi into English and Hindi, from paper to the web. The sale of its TV stake in 2025 narrows the group back to what it started as, a publisher, now with an e-paper, a website and apps alongside the print editions.
The test ahead is the one every regional paper faces: holding readers who now get news free on their phones, while print circulation is audited, contested and shrinking across the industry. Lokmat’s advantage is the one it built in 1971: reporters in the districts that national and Mumbai-based outlets cover least.
Explore More Timelines
People Also Ask
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line
Lokmat is older than its daily: a 1918 freedom-struggle weekly in Yavatmal, revived by Jawaharlal Darda in 1953 and relaunched as a Nagpur daily on 15 December 1971. Editions from Jalgaon (1977) to Goa (2009), English and Hindi sister papers from 1987 and 1989, a website from 1998 and a TV channel from 2008 made it a media group, and IRS 2017 made it the most-read Marathi daily with 18.86 million readers. Its record also includes a 2015 apology, a 2023 coal block sentence on its chairman (suspended on appeal), a rival’s 2025 circulation claim and the sale of its TV stake. Its reach is not in doubt; its next chapter is digital.
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⚠️ Editorial Note
Last updated 12 October 2026. Early history is from Vijay Darda’s Golden Jubilee article in Lokmat Times and the Press Information Bureau’s record of the 18 February 2023 event; edition dates, corporate history and IRS 2007-2010 figures from Lokmat Media’s draft prospectus filed with SEBI in 2010; IRS 2017 figures from IIMC’s Communicator; the TV stake sale from Network18’s 15 October 2025 stock exchange filing; court dates from Deccan Herald and Bar and Bench; the cartoon row from Newslaundry. Readership and circulation figures are labelled with their source and are not current counts. AiTimeline has no commercial relationship with Lokmat Media or Network18.
Sources & further reading
Every dated entry above was checked against these references. Last reviewed 12 October 2026.
- Vijay Darda in Lokmat Times: Fifty years of swimming against the tide (1918 weekly, 1 May 1953 revival, 1960 bi-weekly, 15 Dec 1971 Nagpur daily)
- Press Information Bureau: Amit Shah at Jawaharlal Darda centenary and 50 years of Lokmat Nagpur edition (18 Feb 2023)
- SEBI: Lokmat Media Ltd draft red herring prospectus, 2010 (edition launch dates, corporate history, IRS 2007-2010)
- IIMC Communicator, Oct-Dec 2018: Marathi press and IRS 2017 readership (Lokmat 18.86 million)
- Network18 stock exchange filing: acquisition of Lokmat's stake in IBN Lokmat News Pvt Ltd for Rs 25 crore (15 Oct 2025)
- Lokmat Media company profile (Lokmat Samachar, Lokmat Times, IBN Lokmat, IRS 2012 and ABC 2015 figures)
- VijayDarda.in: First issue of Lokmat Nagpur edition digitised in Golden Jubilee year
- Deccan Herald: Coal scam, Delhi court awards 4-year jail to ex-MP Vijay Darda and son (Jul 2023)
- Newslaundry: Lokmat having to apologise for a cartoon on ISIS (30 Nov 2015)
- exchange4media: Sakal newspaper becomes most widely read in Maharashtra, ABC Jan-Jun 2025
- Wikipedia: Lokmat