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The Times of India Group is preparing to relaunch Mumbai Mirror as a daily, marking a significant strategic move to reinvigorate its print portfolio. The decision underscores the Group’s confidence in legacy urban brands with strong reader loyalty and deep metro resonance.
“The Group is bringing back Mumbai Mirror as a daily. It was a much-loved product five years ago, and this is part of our broader strategy to add fresh momentum across our portfolio,” company officials confirmed to e4m.
The full-scale relaunch is expected within a month, highly placed sources revealed.
The editorship of the new edition is yet to be confirmed. At the time of its suspension, editor Meenal Baghel led the newsroom. She is currently serving as Resident Editor at Hindustan Times in Mumbai.
While a weekly Sunday edition continued post-2020, the return of the daily signals more than nostalgia—it’s part of a larger, multi-pronged growth plan by the Times of India Group, involving renewed investment across digital, events, and content-led verticals. Sources indicate that several shelved initiatives could also be resurrected.
e4m reached out to Surinder Chawla, President & Head of Response, for his comments. The story will be updated as and when he responds.
Legacy with Impact
Launched on May 29, 2005, Mumbai Mirror debuted with great fanfare at the Gateway of India—fireworks, laser shows, and a guest list that included Maharashtra’s then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and actor Abhishek Bachchan.
This was the time when India’s print media was undergoing a massive churn—especially in the Mumbai region. Hindustan Times was preparing to launch its much-awaited Mumbai edition, while Dainik Bhaskar and the Zee Group were also planning to enter the market with their newspaper, DNA.
The Group decided to come up with a punchy, urban tabloid aimed at insulating The Times of India from incoming competition.
However, Mumbai Mirror soon developed an identity of its own, and became a force to reckon with in Mumbai’s urban media space. Mirror had become a Rs 200-Cr brand within six years, Bhaksar Das (then Executive President, Response) had said in an interview in 2012.
From Dominance to Pause
On launch day, Mumbai Mirror was already the second-most circulated newspaper in the city, with a print run of 2 lakh copies. Its sharp headlines, civic-focused journalism, and accessible format made it an instant hit with Mumbai’s readers.
Vineet Jain, at the time, famously stated, “This will lead to an overall expansion of the print market—and if there is cannibalisation, it is all right. Internal cannibalisation is healthy.”
Initially distributed free with TOI, the tabloid soon expanded to other metros, including Pune, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad. Yet, in December 2020, amid the financial strain of the pandemic, the Group announced the suspension of the daily. Staff were informed that the paper would cease publication in a fortnight.
It was the time when the Times of India Group had posted a consolidated net loss of ?451 crore in FY20, following a profit of ?484 crore the previous year.
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