Summer Internship project on

An empirical study to identify the corporate reach of Mint- business

daily with special reference to Noida Region

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Two Year Full Time
Post Graduate Diploma in Management

Submitted By:
Student Name: Vinod Kumar
Enrolment No: 2013149
Batch: 2013-2015

Under the Guidance of:

Faculty Mentor
Prof. Kapil Mohan Garg
Industry Mentor
Mr. Soumya Bhattacharya
(Sr. Sales Manager)

Institute of Technology & Science,

Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad (U.P.)

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby declare that this Summer Internship Project is my own work and that, to the best of my

knowledge and belief, it reproduces no material previously published or written that has been

accepted for the award of any other degree of diploma, except where due acknowledgement has been

made in the text.

Students Name : Enrolment No.: Batch : Date: -

Vinod Kumar
2013149
PGDM (2013-2015)

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Vinod Kumar PGDM (2013-15 Batch) a student of Institute of Technology

& Science, Mohan Nagar Ghaziabad has undertaken the project on An empirical study to identify

the corporate reach of Mint- business daily with special reference to Noida Region. The

survey, data collection, & analysis work for preparing the project has been carried out by the student

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of PGDM, under my guidance and supervision.

Date:
Faculty Mentor

(Kapil Mohan Garg)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This project has been a great learning experience for me & I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to all the people who guide me through the project and without the valuable guidance and
suggestions of these people this project would not have been completely successful.

I owe enormous intellectual debt towards my Industry Mentor Mr Soumya Bhattacharya, Senior
Sales Manager, HT Media Lt., & Faculty Mentor Mr Kapil Mohan Garg, Asst. Professor. ITS,
Ghaziabad, for their continuous support & cooperation throughout my project without which the
present work would not have been possible.

I also want to give special thanks to My Team Leader Mr Gaurav Shahi, HT Media Ltd. for their
continuous guidance, support & cooperation during the whole tenure.

I would like to thank all the respondents whom I interacted during my project & all the retailers for
their cooperation without this I may not able to complete it successfully.

Vinod Kumar
PGDM (2013-2015)
Roll No. 2013149
ITS, Ghaziabad

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In the most matured economies the print media faces stiff competition and a shrinking share of
advertising pie, in India it continued to dominate media budgets. Yet during the year in review the,
there was tremendous pressure on advertising budgeted and this impacted companys revenues.
Mint is India's second largest business newspaper published by HT Media Ltd, the Delhi-based
media group which also publishes the Hindustan Times. It mostly targets readers who are business
executives and policy makers. It is India's first newspaper to be published in the Berliner format.
Mint exclusively carries "WSJ" branded editorial content in its pages by virtue of the content sharing
partnership between HT Media and Wall Street Journal.
My project was to identify the corporate reach of Mint, a business newspaper from HT Media with
special reference to Noida region. Objective of the project was to identify the corporate awareness for
Mint and also the corporate availability for the Mint newspaper. It also involves the work to find out
some measures for enhancing the corporate reach of the newspaper. There were other newspapers in
the market like The Economic Times, Business Line, and The Financial Express which were different
from Mint because all these were hardcore financial newspapers but Mint gives casual business
reading to the readers. For the study I visited 310 companies in various location of Noida like Sec.
62, Sec. 18, Sec. 58 etc. I also sample the Mint during the period of visits to corporate houses.
In training I was also assigned to generate the sales of mint. This was done through cold calling and
by prior appointment in the corporate offices and to working professionals. For this purpose I did
sales presentation, follow ups, etc. At the end of the training I contributed with 10 mint newspaper
corporate subscription to the company.
Without collecting data and its analysis any project is incomplete, thus I surveyed 100 people by way
of a structured questionnaire. Analysis part has been done through putting this data into statistical
software i.e. SPSS 20.

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The result shows that readers are aware about Mint but they are not reading Mint much this may be
because of Brand stickiness. Mint rated good by the reader the supplement of Mint was not liked as it
lacks information. On the other hand other newspaper like The Economic Times rated very good in
terms of Content, Print Quality, layout and supplement. So the response for Mint is good in the
market, reader are aware of the product but not using much.
Mint gives casual business reading to the readers, not purely
business paper it deals with political, international news, columns, special blogs etc. In the case of
newspaper when a reader starts reading any newspaper he doesnt want to change because he is very
much familiar with the paper- its layout and language and find himself comfortable with paper . This
is the response of certain readers which restrict them to change from old newspaper to a new one.

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LIST OF CONTENT

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LIST OF CONTENT
Serial No.

TOPIC

PAGE NO.

Chapter 1

Introduction

11

Chapter 2

Objective of the Study

32

Chapter 3

Research Methodology

34

Chapter 4

Data Collection

39

Chapter 5

Data Analysis and Interpretation

41

Chapter 6

Conclusions

61

Chapter 7

Suggestions/ Recommendations

63

Chapter 8

Limitations

65

Chapter 9

Appendix

67

Chapter 10

Bibliography

70

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CHAPTER- 01
INTRODUCTION

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HT MEDIA LIMITED
Vision
HT Media strives to be a visionary organization and not an organization with a vision. In our
endeavour to have a shared understanding, alignment and commitment, we have derived our
companys vision that sets the course and empowers people to take action

Mission

The mission is to create space for the market share of MINT by tapping the uncovered market and
by taking bites from competitors market share.

Getting the benefits of the paper to be known to the market.

The values personified by HT Media are:
Courage
To encourage the ability that meets opposition with skill, competence and fortitude.
Responsibility
Be accountable for results in line with the companys objectives, strategies and values.
Empowerment
Support our people and give them the freedom to perform and to provide our readers with
information to influence their environment.
Continuous Self Renewal
Determination to constantly re-examine and re-invent ourselves for further innovation and creativity.
People Centric
People are our greatest asset. We invest in them expect a lot and know that the rest will follow

History
Hindustan Times was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1924. Since then, the newspaper has
established its presence as a newspaper with editorial excellence and integrity. One of India's leading
and most respected English dailies, HT have always prided itself in spotting emerging trends and
reflecting the same through its unmatched editorial prowess. Today, Hindustan Times-Delhi edition
has the unique distinction of being the largest selling single edition English newspaper in India.

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QUICK OVERVIEW OF HISTORYSeptember 26, 1924

This date marked the august beginnings of Hindustan Times with Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the
Nation inaugurating the newspaper.
1927
Hindustan Times, was reborn as Hindustan Times Ltd., a limited liability company.
1936
The Hindi daily Hindustan was launched, which remains the dominant newspaper in the Core Hindi
belt of northern India.
1937
Devdas Gandhi was appointed the Managing Editor of the newspaper and remained the managing
editor till his death in 1957.
1942
The Hindustan Times was one of the few newspapers that stopped publishing the newspaper for four
and a half months as it refused to accept the British imposition of censorship on all newspapers.
1947
The year India gained its freedom, was also the year Hindustan Times attained the status of being the
dominant newspaper in Delhi.
1957
The newspaper circulation grew from 58,693 copies to 144,287 in 1970 after KK Birla took over the
mantle from GD Birla.
1960
The Hindi literary magazine Kadambini was launched.
1964
The group started actively targeting the youth of India and launched the Nandan magazine.
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1991
At the start of liberalization of India, Hindustan Times moved to becoming an autonomous power
centre in a mature democracy.
1999
The Hindustan Times celebrated its platinum anniversary.
2000
With a focus on localization, five new editions for Calcutta, Bhopal, Ranchi, Chandigarh and Jaipur
were launched.
2003
The media business of was de-merged and incorporated under HT Media Ltd.
2004
HT Media Ltd was listed as a public company and attracted external funding.
2005
Hindustan Times successfully entered the Mumbai market with a refreshingly new product and
content mix.
2006
Fever 104 FM is launched, in technical collaboration with the Virgin Group. Hindustan was
relaunched re-establishing the company's prominent presence in the regional news space.
2007
Mint, the business paper in partnership with the Wall Street Journal was launched in Delhi and
Mumbai. In the internet space, [Link] was relaunched and [Link] was
introduced.
2008
Firefly e-Ventures, an HT Media Company launched its first portal for job seekers, [Link]

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Background
HT Media Limited found its beginning in 1924 when its flagship newspaper, Hindustan Times was
inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. HT Media (BSE, NSE) has today grown to become one of India's
largest media companies. Produced by an editorial team known for its quality, innovation and
integrity, Hindustan Times (English) and Hindustan (Hindi), have a combined daily circulation of
2.25 million copies and a readership base of 12.4 million readers to their credit. Both dailies enjoy
strong brand recognition among readers as well as advertisers.
To cater to the large readership base, HT Media Limited operates 19
printing facilities across India with an installed capacity of 1.5 million copies per hour.
In addition to Hindustan Times and Hindustan, HT Media Limited
also publishes a national business newspaper, Mint. Mint is a one-of-its-kind newspaper in the sense
that the company has an exclusive agreement with the Wall Street Journal to publish Journal-branded
news and information in India. Mint is today the second-largest business newspaper in India with
presence in the key markets of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
HT Media Limited, through its subsidiary HT Music and
Entertainment Company Ltd., has made its foray into electronic media. Diversifying its ambit of
operations, the company in a consulting partnership with Virgin Radio, has launched the FM radio
channel - Fever 104. Currently available in Delhi and Mumbai, Fever 104 has established a strong
presence as being one of the most vibrant channels on air. In a short span of two years, the channel's
rise has been meteoric considering its position in Delhi as the No. 2 station on the popularity charts.
Internet businesses of HT Media Limited, incorporated under
Firefly e-ventures, operate leading web portals [Link] and [Link] in the general
and business news categories respectively. The company has recently launched [Link], a job
portal which has received high appreciation from consumers and industry for its innovative design
and usability.

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HT Media Limited reported FY 2014 annual revenue of Rs. 23,630 million. For the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2014, the company reported a 12% increase in revenue to Rs. 5,859 million and a 22%
increase EBITDA to 1,175 million from the year-ago quarter.

The Board of Directors and Management of HT Media Limited comprises eminent

persons from diverse professional fields, who bring with them vast professional
experience to the company.
A rich mix of veterans in media and top leaders from non-media sectors, from both India and abroad,
HT Media Limited Management team reflects the company's desire to be the best by leveraging
diverse strengths. The management team comprises people from varied verticals such as media,
FMCG, telecom, automobiles, each of whom add fresh perspective to the rich experience of media
industry stalwarts. This rich talent pool is ably assisted by our Global Think Tank.

Board of Directors:Chairperson
Chief Executive Officer
Directors
Whole time Directors

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Mrs. Shobhna Bhartiya

Rajiv Verma
KN Memani, NK Singh, Ajay Relan, Mukesh Aghi
Priyavrat Bhartiya, Shamit Bhartiya

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PRODUCT PROFILE

HT Media
Limited

Print

Radio

Internet

PRINT
English

Hindustan Times

Mint

Brunch

Hindi

Hindustan

Nandan

Kadambani

RADIOFever 104 FM

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INTERNETWith brands like [Link], Livemint, Desimartini and [Link], Firefly

spearheads Hindustan Media Ventures Limited foray into the Internet media space.
Firefly e-Ventures Ltd., a 100% Hindustan Media Ventures subsidiary, focuses on creating and
building brands and businesses in the Internet media space. Firefly aims to combine Hindustan
Medias 84-year old legacy as one of Indias largest and most respected names in the media industry,
with the innovation and energy that characterize the Internet space.
Compelling product ideas, creative use of design and intuitive user interface, backed by a
knowledgeable sales force and customer service are the hallmarks of Firefly products. With brands
like [Link], [Link], [Link] and [Link] in its portfolio, Firefly
promises to be an exciting addition to the Hindustan Media family.

Some internet contact-

[Link]
[Link] is the online edition of the Hindi newspaper Hindustan. It offers browsers a
multimedia news experience that brings news to life. It offers instant business updates, ball by ball
cricket coverage, and special online-only features.

[Link]
[Link] is the online version of the business daily Mint. It offers online global news, breaking
news, current news, along with financial, technological and economic news.

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[Link]
[Link] is a job portal that helps the candidates to get the right job. It
enables job seekers and employers to reach out to each other in novel ways.
[Link] now offers social media hiring through tie-up
tie
with MyParichay.

With an ever increasing database

base of job seekers and employers, it is one of the leading job portals of
[Link] Jobs, a weekly supplement in association with [Link], offers readers a cross platform
access to jobs on a recruitment platform that spans both the print and online mediums.
m
This offers
job seekers and employers a combined platform to reach out to and engage with each other.
Shine Jobs was re-launched
launched with a brand new look and feel, with the promise of a variety of jobs for
its readers. It now carries top jobs from leading
leading companies in the country, showcasing the best jobs
available on [Link] across managerial levels, industries and cities. It offers the most valuable
content on overall career development, interview tips, HR trends, hot hiring sectors and many more
useful career related.

[Link]
[Link] is an online movie review platform that offers information, updates and reviews
about new as well as upcoming movies. It is Indias one of the most popular movies review & rating
site with its viewership growing from 3 Million page views a month to 7 Million page views a month.
Its primary proposition and differentiation is Public Reviews
Re
and Ratings.

Hindustan Times
With multiple new initiatives to build business and editorial excellence,
the Companys flagship newspaper Hindustan Times (HT) achieved new
milestones of success during the year. It remained the leading English dail
daily in Delhi for the 13th
Indian Readership Survey (IRS) round in a row, and was the second largest newspaper (broadsheet)
by readership in [Link] a steadily growing reader base at the national level, the newspaper
n
has
a readership of 4.34 Million, as per the IRS results for [Link]
[Link] one of the widely-read
widely
English
dailies in the country, Hindustan Times is published from Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Mohali,
Jalandhar, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Bhopal, Indore, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur and
[Link] continued to be ahead of competition in Delhi and NCR. It registered a daily readership
(Average Issue Readership or AIR) of 2.27 Million. In NCR alone, HT registered a healthy 11
percent growth in readership over the year.

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HT Mumbai continued to be a strong growth centre in terms of readership. The newspaper

consolidated its No. 2 position in the city, with an AIR of 1.36 Million. It has remained the No. 2
English broadsheet in the city for the last 10 IRS rounds.
Punjab also added thee maximum number of readers among all English newspapers in the
t state. In
addition to growing its readership in Chandigarh, the newspaper has also made major inroads into the
top cities of Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

HT City & Brunch

Hindustan Times supplements, HT City and Brunch, continued to gain popularity among readers
during the year. Research shows that about 75 percent of all Hindustan Times readers read HT City,
which offers them the best in Entertainment, City & Campus, Art & Lifestyle.
Lifestyl As part of its special
focus on City & Campus, a special series on Women Safety called Safe in the City was launched in
the wake of the tragic December 16 incident. Other initiatives included Campus Calling, Fresh on
Campus and Youth Nexus, which focused
focused on the new session of Delhi University.
Brunch, HTs weekly Sunday magazine, is the largest read English lifestyle magazine in India with a
weighted average per week circulation of 1.1 Million.

Hindustan

Maintaining pace with the growing Hindi readership, Hindustan retained its No. 2 position at national
level in the IRS (2013) results. With a Total Readership (TR) of 39.1 Million and an AIR at 14.25
Million, the daily continued to consolidate its position during CY 2014.
Hindustan continues to reap the benefits
benefits of completing its expansion process in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.)
& Uttarakhand. The most impressive gains for the newspaper came in U.P. - 16 percent over the last
2 years - to post 14.8 Million readers.
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Hindustan has established a pan--U.P. presence,

esence, with 12 editions and 1.1 Million copies distributed
daily across the state. Hindustan now has 7.63 Million AIR in U.P. & Uttarakhand.

Hindustan continues to post robust growth in relative market share across all key cities of U.P. It
retains its No.
o. 1 position in Bareilly while continuing gains from new launches in Aligarh &
Moradabad.
Hindustan continues to dominate Bihar and Jharkhand as the single largest daily. It has an AIR of
4.27 Million readers and a readership share of 68 percent in Bihar. Similarly, it has a 1.40 Million
AIR, with a reader share of 46 percent in Jharkhand.

Mint
Mint, the vibrant business daily of HT Media, continued on its exciting
journey of growth and expansion during the year. While retaining its No.
2 position in the niche business newspaper segment in the country, it
expanded globally with the launch of its Singapore edition.
Maintaining a steady position, it has emerged as the preferred choice of
the discerning reader.
Mint has maintained its dominant presence in metros with the best readership profile
pro
among business
dailies. It commands a combined readership share of 28 percent in key markets of Delhi-NCR,
Delhi
Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai & Ahmedabad put together. It has a readership (AIR)
(A
of 0.31
Million (IRS 2013),
), and an exclusive readership of 90 percent.

In a first for an Indian media company, Mint went global on April 5, 2013. With the launch of its
Singapore edition, it took a major step forward in its goal of
of becoming a regional media brand.
MintAsia will be published every Friday in Singapore, presenting clear-minded
clear minded weekly in-depth
in
analysis and sharp insights that will keep the global audience abreast of developments shaping the
Indian economy and markets.

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Mint, which reaches the whos who of corporate India, achieved a milestone in its journey of
excellence during the year by winning the glorious Media Tenors Best Business Media Award,
2012. The award holds great prestige globally and honours diverse, informative and balanced
business coverage. Mint has already won two SOPA (Society of Publishers in Asia) awards for its
journalistic initiatives on the changing role of people and on the status of women in India.

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MINT PORTFOLIO
MINT LOUNGE
Lounge is the weekend edition of Mint. Every Saturday, Lounge presents a visually engaging look at
the "Business of Life". With articles on Travel, Gadgets, Fashion, Books, Culture, Parenting and
Food, the editors and columnists of Lounge bring the perfect work-life balance to the week.

MINT MONEY
Mint Money is a daily section on Markets & Personal Finance that comes inside Mint. Through its
researched and analyzed content, Mint Money helps its readers develop an understanding of how
various financial products and markets work. It provides clear and credible coverage across the entire
gamut of investment products Equities, Mutual Funds, Commodities, Real Estate and Insurance,
which helps its readers, become smart money managers. Consumers are seeking to bridge the gap
between information and understanding so that they can take the right calls in todays changing
market scenario. With its clear and analysed content, Mint Money seeks to aid the consumer in
bridging this gap.

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MINT INDULGE
Mint Indulge is the Luxury and Lifestyle monthly publication.
A complimentary read for Mints readers across India, Mint Indulge focuses on the passions &
indulgences of India's top business leaders and serve as their best buying guide for the season. Mint
Indulge showcases the most inspirational international brands which look at India as a promising
market to drive the next growth wave for them.

'MINT' -- THE WALL STREET JOURNALS EXCLUSIVE PARTNER

PUBLICATION IN INDIA

The Wall Street Journal Joins Forces With HT Media to Bring Global Business News to Indian
Readers and International Business Travellers.

DESIGN OF THE MINT NEWSPAPER

The design of the Mint newspaper is geared towards presenting business and financial information in
a compact format. The newspaper was initially designed by Mario Garcia, who has also been
associated with the re-design of the Wall Street Journal. Mint liberally uses info graphics to tell
stories and present data when compared with other dailies, publishing almost one a day and
sometimes several.
It is India's first newspaper to be published in the Berliner format.

KEY ACHEIVEMENT

Pan-India publication with presence in 9 key markets of India - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai,
Kolkata, Chandigarh, Pune, Ahmadabad and Hyderabad.
28% readership share in key markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata & Chennai.
Fastest growing business paper with over 3, 10,000+ readers & still growing (IRS Reports).
4 out of 5 Mint readers do not read another business paper, making Mint a critical reach vehicle for the
top end audience.

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MINT as your Business paper:

The Berliner size, refreshing printing & easy language just adds to the pleasure of reading financial
news.
Get yourself updated with the Current Affairs in the Financial & Political arena of the country
MINT Leisure section can be used a perfect weekend planner
MINT Money Provides deep insights on the Stock Market & other financial products, from its
News to its Performance.
Get updated with the World financial news with The Wall Street Journal section
MINT Lounge the weekend magazine, gives information about Entertainment/ Travel/ Health/
Lifestyle/ Technology
The strong MINT Editorial Team gives you a clear & unbiased view on the current happenings of our
Financial sector
The investment expert gives you guidance on Money Management.
MINT Indulge (separately subscribed) that comes monthly/bi-monthly, gives insights on the various
Luxury Brands/ Products across the globe.

PRICING CHART OF MINT WITH OTHER FINANCIAL

NEWSPAPER
Newspaper

Mon.

Tues.

Wed.

Thur.

Fri

Sat.

Sun

Business Standard

3.5Rs

3.5 Rs

3.5 Rs

3.5Rs

3.5 Rs

8 Rs

The Economic Times

3 Rs.

3 Rs.

3 Rs.

3 Rs.

3 Rs.

The Financial Express

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

Business Line

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

10
10
Rs. Rs.
6 Rs 10
Rs.
4Rs. 3 Rs.

Mint

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

4 Rs.

10
Rs.

EFFECT ON VENDORS
Businesses benefit because they are assured a predictable and constant revenue stream from
subscribed individuals for the duration of the subscriber's agreement. Not only does this greatly
reduce uncertainty and the riskiness of the enterprise, but it often provides payment in advance (as
with magazines, Newspapers), while allowing customers to become greatly attached to using the
service and, therefore, more likely to extend by signing an agreement for the next period close to
when the current agreement expires.

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EFEECTS ON READERS
Consumers may find subscriptions convenient if they believe that they will buy a product on a
regular basis and that they might save money. For repeated delivery of the product or service, the
customer also saves time. Subscription pricing can make it easier to pay for expensive items, since it
can often be paid for over a period of time and thus can make the product seem more affordable. On
the other hand, most newspaper and magazine-type subscriptions are paid up front, and this might
actually prevent some customers from signing up.

MINT SUBSCRIPTION COST IN DELHI/NCR REGION

Term

Cover
price

Paper

As per
Cover
price

1 Year

Rs.4/day

Mon- Fri

Rs.1040/-

Rs.699/-

Rs.340/-

Rs.4/day
Rs.10 on
Sat.

Mon-Sat

Rs.1564/-

Rs.899

Rs.665/-

1
Year

You Pay You Save

Print Works
Print Works a one stop shop for space selling in any of the publications in HT, has remarkably
maintained the tradition of ours as the first Indian media company to have organized this expo, much
to the chagrin of other media houses. Held for five days in April end-May, it fetched huge ad
revenues to the company. The novel concept, undoubtedly, set our company in the league of top
notch organisations which are always in the lookout of avenues to widen their clientele. Moreover, it
took place barely a few months after the media marketing departments of Hindustan Times,
Hindustan and Mint were integrated. It wont be wrong to say that Print Works reaped the harvest,
seeds of which were sown during this integration.

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DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

Raw Material

Printing Press

Depot

Vendors

Newspaper Stands

Delivery boys

Readers

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Readers

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SWOT Analysis of Mint

Strengths
Systematic approach covering all sectors.
Nominal price
Separate Money & Market section with 4 pages
Exclusive partnership with The Wall Street Journal
Over view of the whole week is given in weekend
Provide general awareness in terms of investment.

Weakness
Lack of brand awareness
cover only large and mid cap entities
Lack of staff

Opportunity
Can give an extra page on NCR related news
Can introduce a new segment on Sunday
Potential Market Availability
Can have tie-ups with renowned brands for ads.

Threat
New market entrants
Low Pricing Strategy
Toughest Competition From The Economic Times

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PORTERS FIVE FORCE MODEL ANALYSIS

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Porter's 5 forces analysis is a framework for the industry analysis and business strategy
development developed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979. It uses
concepts developed in Industrial Organization (IO) economics to derive 5 forces that determine
the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market.

1. The threat of substitute products:

T.V. Media

Magazines

Internet

Seminars and lectures of experts

What can be the factor of substitute product?

1. Buyer propensity to substitute
2. Relative price performance of substitutes
3. Perceived level of product differentiation

2. The threat of the entry of new competitors

Profitable markets that yield high returns will draw firms. The results are many new entrants, which
will effectively decrease profitability. Unless the entry of new firms can be blocked by incumbents,
the profit rate will fall towards a competitive level (perfect competition).

economies of product differences

brand equity
capital requirements
access to distribution
learning curve advantages

3. The intensity of competitive rivalry

The Economic Times

Business Line
Financial Express
Business Standard

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Factors to be considered :

number of competitors
rate of industry growth
exit barriers
diversity of competitors
informational complexity and asymmetry
level of advertising expense
Economies of scale
Sustainable competitive advantage through improvisation

4. The bargaining power of customers:

Bargaining leverage, particularly in industries with high fixed costs

Buyer volume

Buyer information availability

Availability of existing substitute products

Buyer price sensitivity

Differential advantage (uniqueness) of industry products

5. The bargaining power of suppliers:

degree of differentiation of inputs

presence of substitute inputs
supplier concentration to firm concentration

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CHAPTER-02
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

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Objective of the study

Research is a technique to find out the hidden truth which has not been discovered by applying
scientific procedure. Each research has its own focus. This is stated in terms of objectives or purposes
of conducting research. There must be an objective or purpose behind any research, the research must
proceed in such a systematic process so as to achieve the actual goal. Research objectives are as
follows:
1. To identify the corporate awareness of Mint- business daily in Noida region.
2. To identify the corporate availability and reasons thereof, for Mint- business daily in Noida region.
3. To identify the measures for enhancing the corporate reach of Mint- business daily in Noida
region.

Scope of the Study

The data collected gives the clear picture of the Mint in the markets of Noida, the study of this
research, gives the company an indication about whether it is feasible to move on with the persisting
movements and marketing strategies, and if no, then how to go about it and make it worthwhile for
the brand as well as the company. And conclude on what should be the most favoured deal.
The main purpose to conduct this marketing research is to find out the corporate reach of the
newspaper, and even to study how much awareness of this product is there in the market and the
availability of it.

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CHAPTER-03
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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Research Objectives
Research Design
Research design begins with the identification of management decision problem and the success of
the research highly depends on the well description of management decision problem.
A Research Design is a frame work or blue print for conducting the marketing research project. It
details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure or solve marketing
research problem. Although a broad approach to the problem has already been developed, the
research design specifies the details, the nuts and bolt so implementing the approach. A research
design lays the foundation for conducting the project. A good research design will ensure that the
marketing research project is conducted effectively and efficiently. There are three types of research
designs viz.
a) Exploratory: This type of research is done when objective is not known and it helps in providing
insight and understandings to define a problem. It also involves formulation of hypothesis. The study
involves finding out present data of demand for skincare wipes and prospective buyers and
consumers of the skincare wipes.
b) Descriptive: Descriptive study is an extension of exploratory study and it contains people
surveyed, method of analysis, data collection and analysis of problem. Research was done to find out
corporate reach of Mint.
c) Causal: It helps in determining the cause and effect relationships. Manipulation of one or more
independent variables is done to match with the objective of our problem.

In this project, Descriptive Research Design had been used.

The major objective of descriptive research is to describe something, usually market characteristics
or functions. Descriptive research is conducted for the following:

To describe the characteristics of relevant groups, such as consumers, sales people, organizations,
or market areas.
To estimate the percentage of units in a specified population exhibiting a certain behaviour.
To determine the perception of product characteristics.
To determine the degree to which marketing variables are associated.
To make specific prediction.

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The Descriptive research can be classified in two methods:

1) Survey Methods: This method is used when the research directly corresponds the respondent,
makes him aware of our objective and seeks his help in filling up the questionnaire. The
respondent answers each and every question thus giving his contribution to the study.
2) Observation methods: This method is used when the researcher uses his own judgment on
behalf of respondent by observing his reactions and answers when they interact with each other.
The researcher tries to put all elements of research questions in the conversation and seeks to find
the answers without letting respondent know about it.
In this project only survey method is used to collect the data from the readers.

Scaling
Scaling is applied to the attempts to measure the attitude objectively. Attitude is a resultant of number
of external and internal factors. Depending upon the attitude to be measured, appropriate scales are
designed. Scaling is a technique used for measuring qualitative responses of respondents such as
those related to their feelings, perception, likes, dislikes, interests and preferences. Most commonly
used scales are:
a) Nominal: Numbers serve only as labels or tags for identifying and classifying objects. Only
permissible operation on the numbers in a nominal scale is counting.
b) Ordinal: A ranking scale in which numbers are assigned to objects to indicate the relative extent
to which the objects possess some characteristic. In addition to counting, one can place objects
accordingly relative to their rank.
c) Interval: Numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal values in the characteristic
being measured. However the location of origin is arbitrary.
d) Ratio: Possesses all the properties of the nominal, ordinal, and interval scales. It has an absolute
zero point.
In this project, all the questions have been designed using Nominal as well as ordinal scale.

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Sampling Design
Sample Size
The data was collected through filling up the questionnaires, getting data from readers. The sample
size for the study taken is 100 which include respondents from corporate, business professionals and
tax consultants, advisors etc.

Sample and Sampling Techniques

Sample basically means a subgroup of elements of population selected for participation in study.
And number of elements to be included in the study is known as sample size.
Execution of the sampling process requires a detailed specification of how the sampling designs
decisions with respect to the population, sampling frame, sampling unit, sampling technique, and
sample size is to be implemented.
Sampling technique is broadly classified as:

Non Probability Sampling

Sampling technique that do not use chance selection procedures and rather they rely on the personal
judgment of the researcher. Non probability sampling technique is further classified as:
Convenience Sampling
Judgmental Sampling
Quota Sampling
Snowball Sampling

Probability Sampling

A sampling procedure in which each element of population has a fixed probabilistic chance of being
selected for the sample, and probability sampling is further classified as:
Simple Random Sampling
Systematic Sampling
Stratified Sampling
Cluster Sampling
In this study basically Convenience sampling i.e. Non Probability Sampling Technique has been used
wherein I surveyed corporate people, business professionals in various companys office in
Convenience attempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements. In this type of sampling technique
often the respondents are selected because they happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Convenience sampling is the least expensive and least time consuming of all the sampling
techniques. The sampling units are accessible, easy to measure and cooperative. In spite of these
advantages, this form of sampling has serious limitations. A close end questionnaire was constructed
for my survey. A questionnaire consisting of a set of questions was presented to respondents for their
answers.
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Software used
1. Microsoft Excel: Used for storing the data.
2. SPSS: Used for analyze the collected data.
3. Microsoft Word: Used for report preparation.

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CHAPTER-04
DATA COLLECTION

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DATA COLLECTION

Primary Data:
The first hand information bearing on any research is the one which has been collected by the
researcher. The data here is collected through:

A structured questionnaire
Secondary Data:
The data which has already been collected, complied and presented earlier by any agency may be
used for purpose of investigation. The data collected through:

Various publications in form of annual reports, various papers and journals published from time to
time.
Through internet and Books

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CHAPTER-05
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

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It is a very pleasant and satisfying result that being launched in 2007, Mint has gained a significant
awareness of its brand in the market. Among all respondents, 97% are aware of Mint and only 3% of
respondents are entirely unaware of the brand Mint, despite of its full effort in creating awareness of
the brand.
Thus, we can infer that Mint in not at its introduction stage rather it is on its growth stage where we
need to provide information to customers in convincing that how our product is different and better
than products of the other players in the market.

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The statistics shows that only 10 % respondents have Mint in their organisation. 90 % Organisations
subscribe other papers like The Economic Times, Business Line, and Business Standard, Times of
India etc. It clearly indicates that there is need to increase the subscription in the corporate to
maintain its availability in the organisations.

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Which Newspaper does your Organisation

subscribe ?
Business Standard
11%

The Indian Express

4%

Business Line
9%

The Hindu
7%
Times Of India
26%
Hindustan Times
21%
The Economic
Times
22%

The above pie chart shows that out of 100 respondents I surveyed in Noida region,
region organizations
mainly subscribe Times of India (26 %), The Economic Times (22 %), and Hindustan Times (21%).
It indicates that Mint has intense competition from The Economic Times, Business Line and Business
Standard in Business Paper category.
categor

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The above statistics shows that out of 100 respondents only 16 respondents subscribe mint for home,
this shows that the individual subscription is far below, there is need to push the product to the
professionals, business persons, consultants etc.

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From above pie chart it can be easily understood that the other newspaper which organisations
subscribe found priced at reasonably rate. Almost 79 % respondents replied that the price is good.

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From the above pie chart, it is very much clear that respondents like the other newspapers layout.
Almost 69% respondents replied that the layout is very good.

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From the above graph it is understood that respondents like the print quality of other newspaper
which they read. Almost 50 % of total respondents replied that the print quality is excellent. So this
can be a major factor behind their purchase.

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The above pie chart shows the likability on the basis of content material, which is main part of a
newspaper. 55 % respondents find the content material of other newspapers which they read in
organisation is good.

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The above pie chart showing that 33% says supplement which are provided with the newspaper are
bad, but 31 % also says good and 27 % found it very good.

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From above pie chart it can be easily understood that Mint which organisations subscribe found
priced at reasonably rate. Almost 47 % respondents replied that the price is good. But 27 % also say
that price is bad.

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From the above pie chart, it is very much clear that respondents like Mints layout. Almost 56%
respondents replied that the layout is very good.

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From the above graph it is understood that respondents like the print quality of Mint. Almost 38 % of
total respondents replied that the print quality is excellent.

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The above pie chart shows the likability on the basis of content material, which is main part of a
newspaper; almost 46 % respondents find the content material of Mint is good.

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The above pie chart showing that 54% respondents says that the supplement which is provided with
the newspaper is bad, but 23 % also says good. It is a cause of concern for the company.

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Above pie chart indicating that if the expectations of the readers met than they will prefer to
subscribe the Mint as 61 % respondents are likely to prefer. Reader expectations may be very good
content, less price, supplements which is full of related contents etc.

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From the above graph it is clear that respondents are likely to recommend mint to other readers.

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Variables
Rate Price attribute of Mint.
Does organization subscribe Mint?
Chi-Square Tests
Value

df

Asymp. Sig.

Exact Sig.

Exact Sig.

Point

(2-sided)

(2-sided)

(1-sided)

Probability

.775

.721

Likelihood Ratio

2.841

.585

.641

Fisher's Exact Test

1.998

Pearson Chi-Square

1.784

Linear-by-Linear Association
N of Valid Cases

.416

.806
1

.519

.572

.323

.121

100

a. 6 cells (60.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .10.
b. The standardized statistic is -.645.

Null HypothesisHo: Subscription of Mint in organization is independent to the price attribute.

Interpretation- To test the above hypothesis we applied chi square test and obtain the statistic
value is 1.784 and corresponding to it, the exact P value is 0.721 which is greater than 0.05. So we
are not having sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis and can conclude that subscription of
mint is independent to the price.

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Variable
Rate Content material of Mint.
Does Organization subscribe Mint?

Chi-Square Tests
Value

Pearson Chi-Square
Likelihood Ratio

Asymp. Sig.

Exact Sig. (2-

Exact Sig. (1-

Point

(2-sided)

sided)

sided)

Probability

.008

.010

11.920

.008

.008

11.764

Fisher's Exact Test

Linear-by-Linear Association

df

9.956
4.375

N of Valid Cases

.007
1

.036

.040

.029

.018

100

a. 4 cells (50.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .90.
b. The standardized statistic is 2.092.

Null Hypothesis
Ho: Content material of Mint is independent to the subscription of Mint in the organization.
Interpretation:- To test the above hypothesis we applied chi square test and obtain the statistic
value is 11.764 and corresponding to it, the exact P value is 0.010 which is lesser than 0.05. So we
are having sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis and can conclude that the content material
of mint is dependent to subscription.

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Variables:Rate supplement of Mint.

Does organization subscribes Mint?

Chi-Square Tests
Value

df

Asymp. Sig.

Exact Sig.

Exact Sig. (1-

Point

(2-sided)

(2-sided)

sided)

Probability

.451

.445

Likelihood Ratio

5.274

.260

.281

Fisher's Exact Test

3.989

Pearson Chi-Square

Linear-by-Linear Association

3.681

3.378

N of Valid Cases

.359
1

.066

.089

.042

.028

100

a. 6 cells (60.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .20.
b. The standardized statistic is -1.838.

Null hypothesis
Ho: The subscription of Mint in the organization is independent to the supplement of mint.
Interpretation:- To test the above hypothesis we applied chi square test and obtain the statistic
value is 3.681 and corresponding to it, the exact P value is 0.445 which is greater than 0.05. So we
are not having sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis and can conclude that subscription of
mint is independent to the supplement.

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CHAPTER-06
CONCLUSIONS

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Findings of the Study

As per the marketing research its been concluded the following observation:The awareness level among the customers is very good, 97 % respondents replied that they are
aware of Mint.
The availability of mint in organizations is poor only 10 % respondents replied that their
organization subscribes mint.
Only 16 out of 100 respondents read Mint at home, they purchase for home consumption.
I found during my study that availability of mint at book stall, Bus stand, railway station is also
poor.
In the organizations out of 100 respondents 26% subscribe Times of India, 22% subscribe The
Economic Times, 21% subscribe Hindustan Times, 11% subscribe Business Standard, 9%
subscribe Business Line, 7% subscribe The Hindu and only 4% subscribe The Indian Express.
From the study I found that respondents rate the price. Layout, print quality and content material
of other newspapers good but they dont like the supplement much as 33% rate bad and 31% rate
as good.
For mint I found that 47% respondents rate the price is good but 27 % also said it is bad.
For layout of the newspaper 56% respondents rate good.
Print quality of the mint is Excellent as 38 % says and 27% says very good.
The content material which is main ingredient of a newspaper, 46% respondents rate good.
The supplement is not rated well as 54% said it is bad.
When it was asked to the respondents that if their expectation will met than will they buy? Almost
61 % respondents said that they would prefer to subscribe mint.
It is found that 30 % respondents likely to recommend to other and 30 % is certain when it was
asked to them that would they recommend to others.
While conducting chi-square test we could not reject the null hypothesis- the price is independent
to subscription of mint hence we can not accept the alternate hypothesis- Subscription of Mint is
dependent on the Price.
When we write the Null hypothesis- Content material is independent to subscription of Mint. We
reject that hypothesis, so now we can accept the alternate hypothesis- Subscription of Mint is
dependent on the content material.
When we write null hypothesis as- Supplement is independent to subscribe the Mint. We could not
reject the null hypothesis, so we can not accept the alternate hypothesis- Subscription of Mint is
dependent to supplement.

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CHAPTER-07
RECOMMANDATIONS

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Recommendations for Mint

After completing my field work I came up with few ideas which may help the product Mint to be
more popular & may also help to increase its sale.
First & the foremost step will be to increase the frequency of the advertisement in print & electronic
media. It is very important for a product with a new concept to get the attention of the consumers &
this can only be achieved by spreading awareness about the product & the best means is
advertisement.
Mint is slightly costly than its rival newspaper brands, by maximizing the plant capacity cost of
printing should be minimized so that product can be offer at competitive price.
Mint is not available at every stall so company can lose potential buyer. To ensure the availability
of the Mint, so Company should come up with attractive promotions to vendors, hawkers and
distributors to push the product into the market.
During my survey I found that there is no. of readers who are not satisfied with the vendor and they
were getting the newspaper very late or sometimes dont get. To solve this problem the availability
of paper should be ensured at right time on depot so that vendors can pick their copies early.
Hoardings, billboards can be put over to public transports like buses, metros and railway stations
where maximum number of people visits daily it will create brand awareness.
The supplement of mint is not liked by the respondents in my survey so it should be more
interesting by putting some value added things.
The supplement- indulge should be more focused on business kind of article like corporate dossier
of ET.
The annual subscription of mint is costly around 899/- and 699/- which is far more costly than The
biggest rival The Economic Times, Business Line etc. It should not more than 500/The content material of Mint is not as better as others; it should be rich in terms of articles, latest
news, exclusive report on burning topics etc.

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CHAPTER-08
LIMITATIONS

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Limitation of the study

Research has its own limitations in its process to achieve the objective. Not even a single research
gives 100% accurate and perfect idea about market position, because of its limitations. Research in
business just gives a brief idea about the probable future of the business.
The limitations of the study may be as below;
The survey and research has been done only in Noida region, therefore the results shows the market
position of Noida only but results can not be considered as representative of whole of Noida.
The research is mainly based on the readers already reading business newspapers.
The sample size of Noida region taken was small, therefore it can be said that the chosen sample is
not the representative of the whole population and this hindered quantitative research.
Readers may not have been true in answering various questions and may be biased to certain other
questions. Some readers however were not willing to share their views and did not gave any
information.
As the study is depending on the information from the different sources, the reliability of study is
depending on the reliability of information received.

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CHAPTER-09
APPENDIX

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Questionnaire
Name (Optional):___________________________________________
Organisation Name: ___________________________________________
Organisation business: ___________________________________________
No. of employee in the unit where you are located: __________________________________
1. Among the following, which daily paper does your office subscribe?
(a)Business Line
(b) TOI
(c) Economic Times
(d) HT
(f) Business Standard
(g) The Indian Express (i) Any Other...................

(e) Hindu

2. Does your office/Organization subscribe Mint- business daily?

(a)Yes
(b) No
3. Do you subscribe Mint- business daily?
(a)Yes
(b) No
4. Do you know about Mint-Business Daily?
(a) Yes
(b) No
4. For your choice of daily paper in Ques. No 1, about one you like the most,give your rating for the below given
attributes:Attributes
1
2
3
4
5
Poor
Bad
Good
Very Good
Excellent
Price
Layout
Print Quality
Contents Material
Supplements
Any Other ------------5. What attributes in Mint- business daily do you like, give your rating for the below given attributes:Attributes

1
Poor

2
Bad

3
Good

4
Very Good

5
Excellent

Price
Layout
Print Quality
Contents Material
Supplements
Any Other-------------

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7. Up to what extent would you prefer to subscribe Mint- business daily over other business daily if your
expectations are met by the Mint?
(a)
Very Unlikely (b) Unlikely
(c) Somewhat likely
(d) Very Likely (e) Certain
8. How likely will you recommend Mint- business daily in your organization or to your acquaintances?
(a) Very Unlikely (b) Unlikely
(c) Somewhat likely
(d) Very Likely (e) Certain

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CHAPTER-10
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Bibliography

Kotler Philip, Keller Kevine Lane, Koshy Abraham & Jha M: Marketing Management; 14th
Edition, New Delhi, Pearsson

Schiffman Leon G and Kanuk Leslie Lazar; 8th ed- Consumer Behavior (Pearson Education,
2005)

N.K Rampal. S.L Gupta: Project Report Writing (Galgotia Publications)

Websites
1. [Link]
2. [Link]
3. [Link]

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