Amar Ujala launched its Nainital edition on Monday (June 28). This would help the group consolidate its leadership in Uttaranchal where the publication has an overall readership of 10.30 lakhs.

The Nainital edition would be second in the state and would cater to the readers of the Kumaon region. While the paper###SQ###s Dehradun edition could reach the Garhwal region, readers of the Kumaon region (Garhwal & Kumaon are two distinctive clusters of Uttaranchal) were left unattended.

The estimated adult literate population in Kumaon is 61 lakh and only 27 per cent (16.56 lakh) are newspaper readers. English dailies have a reach of only 4 per cent (71,000 lakh) and therefore there is a definite market for Hindi dailies in this region.

Amar Ujala believes that by defined research and better ground knowledge of the hills -- which has helped the paper to establish a stronghold in Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Western Uttar Pradesh -- the newspaper will only further consolidate its presence through the Nainital edition.