The Indian Express

{{Short description|Daily broadsheet newspaper in India}} {{For|the bifurcated South Indian edition|The New Indian Express}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox newspaper | motto = ''Journalism of Courage'' | logo = frameless|class=skin-invert | image = 225px|border | caption = The publication's 4 August 2009 front page | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = {{Start date and age|1932}} | owners = Indian Express Limited | publisher = Indian Express Limited | chief_editor = Raj Kamal Jha<ref>{{cite web |title=Express Group Editorial |url=https://expressgroup.indianexpress.com/senior-editors.html |publisher=The Indian Express |access-date=21 September 2020 |archive-date=17 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317050250/https://expressgroup.indianexpress.com/senior-editors.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | language = English | headquarters = B1/B, Express Building, Sector 10, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India | circulation = 1,600,000 daily<br> | circulation_date = 2017 | sister_newspapers = {{Ubl|''The Financial Express''|''Loksatta''|''Jansatta''}} | website = {{Official URL}} | price = {{INRConvert|6}} | ISSN = 0715-5832 (US, Canada) | oclc = 70274541 }}

'''''The Indian Express''''' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited (formerly Indian Express Group. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight years after Goenka's death in 1991,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ramnath Goenka|url=https://indianexpress.com/|access-date=6 July 2020|website=The Indian Express |archive-date=22 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622094128/https://indianexpress.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> the group was split between the family members. The southern editions took the name ''The New Indian Express'', while the northern editions, based in Mumbai, retained the original ''Indian Express'' name with ''The'' prefixed to the title.<ref>{{Cite magazine |author=Katiyar |first=Arun |date=31 March 1995 |title=Rs 220 crore Indian Express group of late media baron Ramnath Goenka splits |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/media/story/19950331-rs-220-crore-indian-express-group-of-late-media-baron-ramnath-goenka-splits-807073-1995-03-31 |access-date=18 December 2020 |magazine=India Today }}</ref>

==History==

In 1932, the ''Indian Express'' was started by an Ayurvedic doctor, P. Varadarajulu Naidu, at Chennai, being published by his Tamil Nadu press. Soon under financial difficulties, he sold the newspaper to Swaminathan Sadanand, the founder of ''The Free Press Journal'', a national news agency.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 July 2024 |title=Who Owns Your Media? |url=https://www.newslaundry.com/media/who-owns-your-media |access-date=15 August 2025 |website=Newslaundry }}</ref> In 1933, the ''Indian Express'' opened its second office in Madurai, launching the Tamil edition, ''Dinamani''. Sadanand introduced several innovations and reduced the price of the newspaper. Faced with financial difficulties, he sold a part of his stake to Goenka as convertible debentures. In 1935, when ''The Free Press Journal'' finally collapsed, and after a protracted court battle with Goenka, Sadanand lost ownership of ''Indian Express''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kaminsky|first=Arnold|title=India Today- an encyclopedia of life in the republic|date=30 September 2011|page=340|publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=9780313374623|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWDnTWrz4O8C&pg=PA340|access-date=3 February 2016|archive-date=29 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629115021/https://books.google.com/books?id=wWDnTWrz4O8C&pg=PA340|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1939, Goenka bought ''Andhra Prabha'', another prominent Telugu daily newspaper. The name Three Musketeers was often used for the three dailies, namely ''Indian Express'', ''Dinamani'' and ''Andhra Prabha''.

In 1940, the whole premises was gutted by fire. ''The Hindu'', a rival newspaper, helped considerably in re-launching the paper, by lenting their old building and allowing getting it printed temporarily at one of its Swadesimithran's press and later offered its recently vacated premises at 2 Mount Road, on rent to Goenka, which later became the landmark Express Estates.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=6 November 2017 |title=1940 – The year of Fires |url=https://madrasminutes.com/2017/11/06/1940-the-year-of-fires/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809053346/https://madrasminutes.com/2017/11/06/1940-the-year-of-fires/ |archive-date=9 August 2020 |access-date=10 April 2020 |website=Madras Minutes}}{{unreliable source?|date=September 2020}}</ref> This relocation also helped the ''Express'' obtain better high speed printing machines. The district judge who led the inquiry into the fire concluded that a short circuit or cigarette butt could have ignited the fire and said that the growing city had inadequate fire control support.<ref name=":0" /> In 1952, the paper had a circulation of 44,469.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mani |first=A.D. |title=The Indian Press Today |journal=Far Eastern Survey |date=2 July 1952 |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=109–113 |doi=10.2307/3023864 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3023864 |publisher=Institute of Pacific Relations |jstor=3023864 |issn=0362-8949 |access-date=21 September 2020 |archive-date=24 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224045234/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3023864 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

After Goenka's death in 1991, two of his grandsons, Manoj Kumar Sonthalia and Viveck Goenka<ref>{{Cite web |title=Express Group |url=https://expressgroup.indianexpress.com/management.html |access-date=7 June 2024 |website=expressgroup.indianexpress.com }}</ref> split the group into two. ''Indian Express Mumbai'' with all the North Indian editions went to Viveck Goenka, and all the Southern editions, which were grouped as Express Publications Madurai Limited and headquartered in Chennai, went to Sonthalia.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/61205/|title=Manoj Kumar Sonthalia vs Vivek Goenka And Ors. on 9 March, 1995|website=indiankanoon.org|access-date=10 April 2020|archive-date=24 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224044426/https://indiankanoon.org/doc/61205/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lawyerservices.in/Manoj-Kumar-Sonthalia-Versus-Vivek-Goenka-and-Others-1995-03-09 |title=Manoj Kumar Sonthalia v Vivek Goenka and Others on 09 March 1995 - Judgement - LawyerServices|website=www.lawyerservices.in|access-date=10 April 2020 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019003203/https://www.lawyerservices.in/Manoj-Kumar-Sonthalia-Versus-Vivek-Goenka-and-Others-1995-03-09|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Indian Express'' began publishing daily on the internet on 8 July 1996. Five months later, the website ''expressindia.com'' attracted "700,000 hits every day, excepting weekends when it fell to 60% of its normal levels".<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Express - Awards |url=http://www.expressindia.com/about/AWARDS.HTM |website=The Indian Express |access-date=18 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970415041105/http://www.expressindia.com/about/AWARDS.HTM |archive-date=15 April 1997}}</ref>

==Circulation== According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2017, the Indian Express is the sixth most read English newspaper with a readership of nearly 1.6 million readers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Indian Express |url=http://india.mom-gmr.org/en/media/detail/outlet/the-indian-express/ |access-date=9 December 2025 |website=India.Mom-Gmr.org }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" |+ Circulation in major cities |- ! City !! Approximate daily circulation<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indian Express Personal Ad Rates and Online Booking for Newspaper |url=https://indianexpress.releasemyad.com/rates/personal |access-date=9 December 2025 |website=IndianExpress.ReleaseMyad.com }}</ref> |- | Mumbai || style="text-align:right" | 160,000 |- | Delhi || style="text-align:right" | 140,000 |- | Pune || style="text-align:right" | 90,000 |- | Chandigarh || style="text-align:right" | 45,000 |- | Ahmedabad || style="text-align:right" | 42,000 |- | Nagpur || style="text-align:right" | 40,000 |- | Lucknow || style="text-align:right" | 40,000 |}

== Controversies == In May 2020, the ''Indian Express'' reported that the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police had determined that an audio clip shared on WhatsApp, which was presented as a recording of Saad Kandhlawi asking Tablighi Jamaat members to disregard social distancing recommendations for a religious congregation during the COVID-19 pandemic, had been "doctored".<ref>{{cite web |last=Manral |first=Mahender Singh |date=10 May 2020 |title=Tablighi FIR: Police probe indicates Saad audio clip was doctored |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/tablighi-jamaat-saad-audio-clip-delhi-police-6400994/ |website=The Indian Express |access-date=2 October 2025 }}</ref> The Bureau of Police Research and Development subsequently listed the audio clip as an example of "fake news and disinformation vectors" in a report and retracted it one day later. In response, the Delhi Police posted on Twitter that the ''Indian Express'' article was incorrect and summoned the reporter for questioning. The ''Indian Express'' replied on Twitter that they had contacted Special Commissioner of Police Praveer Ranjan for comment and that Ranjan did not respond before the article's publication.<ref>{{cite web |last=Iyer |first=Aishwarya S. |title=Delhi Police Summons Journo Over 'Tablighi FIR Fake Audio' Report |url=https://www.thequint.com/news/india/tablighi-jamaat-indian-express-reporter-fake-audio-delhi-police |website=The Quint |access-date=2 October 2025 |date=11 May 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Delhi Police Summon Indian Express Journalist for Reporting on Tablighi Jamaat Head's 'Doctored' Audio Clip |url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/05/11/delhi-police-summon-indian-express-journalist-for-reporting-on-tablighi-jamaat-heads-doctored-audio-clip |work=Newslaundry |access-date=2 October 2025 |date=11 May 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Singh |first=Navya |title=Tablighi FIR: Journalist Claims Maulana Saad Audio Clip Doctored, Police Deny Report, Summon Reporter |url=https://thelogicalindian.com/tablighi-jamaat-maulana-clip-doctored-21028/ |website=The Logical Indian |access-date=2 October 2025 |date=11 May 2020 }}</ref>

In 2022, ''Indian Express'' published a piece in its newspaper claiming that the director generals of few Indian paramilitary forces were not invited to the Republic Day parade. The concerned forces later clarified that the news was incorrect and the director generals had attended the event.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 January 2022 |title=All CAPF DGs were invited, attended R-Day Parade 2022: Officials |url=https://theshillongtimes.com/2022/01/31/all-capf-dgs-were-invited-attended-r-day-parade-2022-officials/ |access-date=31 December 2023 |website=The Shillong Times |archive-date=31 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231063521/https://theshillongtimes.com/2022/01/31/all-capf-dgs-were-invited-attended-r-day-parade-2022-officials/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=All CAPF DGs were invited, attended R-Day Parade 2022: Officials |url=https://daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=921049 |access-date=9 December 2025 |website=daijiworld.com }}</ref>

In February 2025, Shashi Tharoor accused Indian Express of manipulation of his speech. Indian Express swiftly reported in English that Tharoor said during the podcast that he has "other options" if his party no longer needs him. He accused the newspaper of running a "fake news story claiming I had decried the absence of a leader" in the Kerala Congress.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 February 2025 |title='Scant Regard for Accuracy, Lust for Clickbait': Shashi Tharoor Slams Indian Express, State of Journalism |url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2025/02/27/scant-regard-for-accuracy-lust-for-clickbait-shashi-tharoor-slams-indian-express-state-of-journalism |work=Newslaundry |access-date=18 March 2026 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indian Express, The}} Category:1931 establishments in India Category:English-language newspapers published in India Category:Indian Express Limited Category:National newspapers published in India Category:Newspapers established in 1931 Category:Newspapers published in Delhi Category:Newspapers published in Kolkata Category:Newspapers published in Mumbai