Our Company was originally incorporated as `Multi-Tech Energy Limited' under the provisions of theCompanies Act, 1956 as per the certificate of incorporation dated October 27, 1995 issued by the RoC Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Our Company received its certificate of commencement of business on June 26, 1998. Subsequently, our Company's name was changed to `D.B. Corp Limited' by a fresh certificate of incorporation dated December 1, 2005. Our Company engaged itself in print and publication from April 1, 2005 pursuant to the WPL Demerger.
Changes in the Registered Office
At the time of incorporation, the registered office of our Company was situated at 6, Dwarka Sadan, Press Complex, M.P. Nagar, Bhopal 462 011, Madhya Pradesh. Pursuant to our shareholders resolution passed on November 4, 2005 and certified by the Company Law Board, Western Regional Bench, Mumbai by its order dated December 5, 2005, our registered office was shifted to its current Registered Office at plot no. 280, Sarkhej Gandhinagar highway, near YMCA Club, Makarba, Ahmedabad 380 051, Gujarat.
WPL Demerger
The High Court of Gujarat by its order dated October 10, 2006 and amended order dated December 22, 2006 approved the scheme of arrangement under section 391 to 394 of the Companies Act following which the entire publication business and the windfarm business of WPL was transferred to our Company ("WPL Demerger").
The scheme of arrangement of the WPL Demerger provides that with effect from April 1, 2005
("Appointed Date") the business of publication, including the assets and liabilities, intellectual
property rights, employees and printing of newspaper under the title 'Dainik Bhaskar' and 'Divya Bhaskar' shall stand transferred in our Company as a going concern. Further the scheme of arrangement of the WPL Demerger provides that the ownership of all land and buildings shall continue to be in the name of WPL with our Company having the right to use the immoveable property by way of lease or leave and license. For details on the lease agreements with WPL refer to section titled `Our Business' beginning on page 57. The WPL Demerger became operative from December 12, 2006 ("WPL Effective Date").
As consideration for such transfer, our Company issued and allotted 2,136,550 Equity Shares on December 12, 2006 to the shareholders of WPL in the following ratio:
* Two fully paid up Equity Shares to the members of WPL for every one fully paid up equity share of Rs. 100 each of WPL held by them.
Simultaneously, the 50,000 existing Equity Shares of the Company were cancelled.
Pursuant to the WPL Demerger, all legal proceedings pending on the Appointed Date, in relation to the publication business, continued to be enforceable by or against WPL and any proceedings initiated by any third party for acts or deeds of the publishing business, prior to the Appointed Date were to be initiated only against WPL.
Further the scheme of arrangement provides, that from the date on which the High Court sanctions the WPL Demerger and on the date of receipt of the approval of the majority of persons directed under the WPL Demerger, all contracts, deeds, bonds, agreements and other instruments in relation to publication business to which WPL was a party became enforceable against or in favour of our Company.
Indiainfo Demerger
The High Court of Gujarat and Karnataka High Court by orders dated June 11, 2007 and June 22, 2007, respectively, approved the scheme of arrangement under section 391 to 394 read with section 100 to 103 of the Companies Act, for transfer of the internet division of Indiainfo ("Indiainfo Demerger).
As consideration for the transfer of the internet division of Indiainfo, our Company issued and allotted shares to those members of Indiainfo whose name appeared in the register of members of Indiainfo on June 22, 2007.
The scheme of Indiainfo Demerger provides that from September 1, 2006 ("Indiainfo Appointed
Date"), the entire business undertaking of the internet division of Indiainfo, including all assets and liabilities, pursuant to section 394(1) of the Companies Act was transferred in our Company.
As consideration for the Indiainfo Demerger, our Company was to issue and allot Equity Shares to the shareholder of Indiainfo in the following ratio:
(a) 25 Equity Shares in proportion to members existing shareholding in Indiainfo Limited.
(b) 10 preference shares of Rs. 10,000 each of our Company in proportion members existing
shareholding in Indiainfo.
Due to the change in the exchange control regulations issued by the RBI in relation to preference shares being classified as external commercial borrowings, our Company was unable to issue preference shares to the non-resident shareholders of Indiainfo. Relying on the provisions under the scheme of Indiainfo Demerger, by a resolution of our Board dated October 25, 2007, and a resolution of the board of Indiainfo dated October 25, 2007, the terms of the scheme of Indiainfo Demerger were modified such that in lieu of nine preference shares, 180 equity shares at a value of Rs. 500 each were to be issued by our Company to the non-resident shareholders of Indiainfo.
Pursuant to the Indiainfo Demerger, all legal proceedings pending on the Indiainfo Appointed Date, in relation to the internet division will continued to be enforceable by or against Indiainfo and any proceedings initiated by any third party for acts or deeds of the publishing business, prior to the Appointed Date were to be initiated only against Indiainfo.
History of our Company
The first edition of Dainik Bhaskar was published in Madhya Pradesh in the late sixties.
The office of the RNI issued a letter No 5/4/1996-Admn dated June 18, 2004 to the District
Magistrate, Gwalior, Indore, Jhansi, Jabalpur and Bhopal with a copy to the owners stating that, in light of the Supreme Court order dated July 7, 2003 in the Civil Appeal No. 4782 of 1996 with C.A. No. 4783 of 1996 and W.P. (C) No. 527 of 1993, the ownership of Dainik Bhaskar was updated and the ownership of Dainik Bhaskar was relegated back to the ownership of Dainik Bhaskar immediately prior to June 29, 1992. In terms of the aforementioned letter issued by RNI and judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the ownership pattern of Dainik Bhaskar as on June 29, 1992 was as follows:
Place of publication Name of the owner
Bhopal M/s Writers and Publishers Limited
Indore M/s Bhaskar Graphics and Printing Arts Limited (subsequently merged
with WPL)
Gwalior M/s Bhaskar Publications and Allied Industries Private Limited
Jhansi Mr. Sanjay Agarwal
Jabalpur Mr. B.D. Agarwal
Further, the office of RNI by a letter dated June 18, 2004 addressed to the District Magistrates, Satna, Raipur, Bilaspur, Nagpur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Kota, Sriganganagar, Udaipur, Chandigarh, Panipat, Hissar and Faridabad, confirmed that the ownership status of the editions which commenced publication after June 29, 1992 is as follows:
Place of Publication Name of the Owner
Satna, Raipur, Bilaspur, Nagpur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Writers and Publishers Limited (now Writers and
Ajmer, Bikaner, Kota, Sriganganagar, Udaipur, Publishers Private Limited)
Chandigarh, Panipat, Hissar and Faridabad
WPL entered into a memorandum of understanding dated November 15, 2006 with the legal heirs of Late Mr. B.D. Agarwal and Bhaskar Prakashan Private Limited, pursuant to which, the legal heirs of Late Mr. B.D. Agarwal relinquished their ownership to the title "Dainik Bhaskar" in favour of WPL and in lieu of the same WPL granted a perpetual right to Bhaskar Prakashan Private Limited (agreed by legal heirs of Late Mr. B D Agarwal) to print and publish and manage "Dainik Bhaskar" from 18 districts i.e. (Jabalpur, Narsinghpur, Seoni, Mandla, Chhindwara, Rewa, Satna, Shahdol, Sidhi, Balaghat, Damoh, Panna, Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Anuppur, Umaria, Katni, Dindori ), out of 48 Districts of Madhya Pradesh with entire Maharashtra and Western Uttar Pradesh.
Pursuant to WPL Demerger the entire publications business of WPL was transferred to our Company.
As a part of the WPL Demerger, all the consents and approvals issued to WPL including RNI
registrations were to be transferred in the name of our Company. We have received all the RNI
registration in the name of our Company, as set below:
1. Pursuant to a letter dated June 24, 2008 issued by the RNI, the RNI registration of `Dainik
Bhaskar' for Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana editions were transferred from WPL to our
Company.
2. Pursuant to a letter dated March 18, 2008 issued by the RNI, the RNI registration of `Divya
Bhaskar' in the cities of Ahemdabad, Surat, Baroda, Rajkot, Bhuj and Mumbai was
transferred from Mr. Sudhir Agarwal to our Company.
3. On October 10, 2008, the ownership of `Dainik Bhaskar' editions of Bhopal and New Delhi
were changed from WPL to our Company in the records of RNI.
4. Pursuant to a letter dated March 18, 2008 issued by the RNI, the RNI registration of `Dainik
Bhaskar' for Sagar edition was transferred from WPL to our Company.
5. Pursuant to a letter dated January 2, 2008 issued by the RNI, the RNI registration of `Dainik
Bhaskar' for Chandigarh, Jaipur Ajmer, Jodhpur Bikaner Udaipur and Kota editions, were
transferred from WPL to our Company.
6. Pursuant to a letter dated January 7, 2008 issued by the RNI, the RNI registration of `Dainik
Bhaskar' for Panipat, Hisar and Faridabad editions, were transferred from WPL to our
Company.
7. Pursuant to a letter dated December 31, 2007 issued by the RNI, the RNI registration of
`Dainik Bhaskar' for Ujjain, Raipur, Bilaspur and Indore editions were, transferred from WPL
to our Company.
As of date, the Company has the right to and is printing and publishing the Dainik Bhaskar in eight states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh - and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
We have also been publishing Divya Bhaskar, a Gujarati daily in Gujarat since 2003 and in Mumbai (Maharashtra) since 2004.
Key events and milestones
2005
Demerger of the publication business of Writers & Publishers Limited into our Company.
2006
SMEL acquired 17 licenses for its FM Radio operations and launched operations in Jaipur.
Issuance of 152,610 Equity Shares of our Company to Cliffrose Investment Ltd pursuant to a
scheme of demerger.
`Dainik Bhaskar' launched in Punjab
Our Company launched Ujjain, Sagar Editions of `Dainik Bhaskar' and Rajkot Edition of Divya
Bhaskar.
2007
Our Company launched Hindi edition of `Dainik Bhaskar' from Ludhiana.
SMEL launched 13 FM radio stations at various locations in India.
Our Company launched new edition of `Divya Bhaskar 'in Gujarat.
Our Company entered into a publication license agreement with Diligent Media Corporation
Limited to print, edit, publish, circulate, and market the Newspaper DNA-Daily News & Analysis
including its supplements, `After Hrs.', `DNA Sport', `DNA Academy', `DNA Life', `DNA ME'
and `DNA YA' in the entire state of Gujarat.
Demerger of internet division of Indiainfo with our Company.
2008
Our Company's name was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the largest tea party for the social theme of public participation in development of Indore city. The tea party was organised by our Company in association with Hindustan Unilever Limited and Tea Board of India.
One Subsidiary, SMEL launched three FM radio stations at Kota, Jabalpur and Raipur.
Our Company's new brand "DB Star" was published from Indore and Bhopal.
Our Company launched "Business Bhaskar" in Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Panipat, New Delhi,
Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
Our Company entered into a publication license agreement with Diligent Media Corporation
Limited to print, edit, publish, circulate, and market editions of DNA-Daily News & Analysis
including its supplements, `After Hrs.', `DNA Sport', `DNA Academy', `DNA Life', `DNA ME'
and `DNA YA' in the entire state of Rajasthan.
2009
-Launch of highly successful maiden public issue of DB Corp Ltd from 10th Dec to 15th Dec which was oversubscribed by over 39 times a record oversubscription in 23 months for any IPO
-Installation of KBA Printing Machines imported from Germany at Jaipur and Ahmedabad
2010
-D B Corp Ltd. launched 50th Edition by launching Bhatinda Edition
-D B Corp Ltd. launched its 12th state of Jharkhand with launch of 49th Edition in Ranchi on 22nd August 2010. The launch for reader was very successful, with around 135000 subscribed copies on the day one of the launch and thus becomes most popular News Paper from day 1 of the launch.
-D B Corp Ltd. launched 51st Edition by launching Jammu Edition
-D B Corp Ltd. launched 51st Edition by launching Jammu Edition
-Dainik Bhaskar wins award at INMA Awards, 2010 in the category of "Marketing Solutions for Advertising Clients
2011
-Dainik Bhaskar voted as ICMR's (Indian Council for Market Research) Star Brand
-Awards won by D B Corp Ltd at CMO Asia Awards 2011 for EXCELLENCE IN BRANDING AND MARKETING function held at SINGAPORE
-DB Corp Limited extended its presence to 4th language Marathi with launch of its 60th edition Dainik Divya Marathi newspaper in Aurangabad
-D B Corp Ltd. launched 61st Edition by launching DNA Indore Edition
-D B Corp Ltd. launched 4th Edition by launching Ahmednagar
2012
-D B Corp Ltd. launched 4th Edition by launching Ahmednagar
-DB Corp Limited Announces Successful Launch of 5th Edition of Dainik Divya Marathi from Sholapur, Maharashtra.
-DB Corp Ltd. Announces Launch of Dainik Bhaskar School for Media Training Association with Dale Carnegie.
2013
-DB Corp Ltd Announces successful launch of 6th Edition of Divya Marathi from Akola, Maharashtra.
-DB Corp Ltd Announces the successful launch of 7th Edition of Divya Marathi from Amravati.
2014
-DB Corp Ltd announces successful launch of Dainik Bhaskar Newspaper from Patna-Bihar.
-CARE Assigns highest AAA Rating to DBCL.
2015
-Dainik Bhaskar Announces successful launch of Dainik Bhaskar Newspaper from Gaya Edition
-Dainik Bhaskar Strengthens Radio Business Acquires 14 frequencies in the Phase III auctions My FM extends presence to 7 states and 30 cities
2016
-" Launch of DB Post".
-Company has added one more portal to the bouquet of portals in the service of its customers which aims at facilitating dream come true for every aspirant of one s own home.
-Launch of 4 Radio Stations on 12th December 2016 in cities of Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Nanded and Sangli.
-Commencement of 3 Radio Stations, out of 13 newly acquired Radio stations during Phase 3 Radio Auctions in the cities of Hisar on 29th July 2016, Karnal on 30th July 2016 and in Rajkot on 7th August 2016.
-Dainik Bhaskar is World's 4th largest Circulated Newspaper.
2017
-Launch of 2 Radio Stations in the city of Nasik and Jalgaon.
-Launch of 2 Radio Stations in the city of Solapur and Dhule.
-Launch of 2 Radio Stations in the city of Bikaner and Akola.
-Dainik Bhaskar Announces successful launch of Dainik Bhaskar Newspaper from Surat Edition.
-Dainik Bhaskar launched its Jhunjhunu edition.
-Dainik Bhaskar launched its Gangapurcity edition.
2018
-Dainik Bhaskar is also the largest circulated paper in Rajasthan as per Audit Bureau of Circulations Jan-to-June 2018.
-Dainik Bhaskar Group has maintained its leadership as largest Newspaper Group of Urban India.
-Dainik Bhaskar Group won 4 awards at ACEF Brand and Marketing.
-Dainik Bhaskar Group won 3 Silver and 1 Bronze at the Afaqs Awards.
2019
-Dainik Bhaskar Group has maintained its leadership as largest Newspaper Group of Urban India.
2020
-Dainik Bhaskar further strengthened its readership base to 67.06 lakh readers and with a moving average method of readership calculation, the relative position is likely to be improved with every passing quarters.
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