TOI Quiz: Think You Know India’s Biggest Media Empire?

Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. took shape in Bombay in 1892. Thomas Jewell Bennett did not build it alone. A co-founder partnered with him and played an equal role in shaping what later grew into India's biggest and most influential print media company, publishing The Times of India.

The Times Group has been under private Indian ownership for several decades now. One prominent business family has held control over its vast media assets, publications, and broadcast properties since the mid-20th century, following the end of British ownership in India.

The Times Group expanded well beyond newspapers into the FM radio space. It runs one of India's most widely heard private radio networks, broadcasting music, news, and entertainment across dozens of Indian cities, having built a strong and loyal listenership over many years.

The Times Group publishes a celebrated film magazine that has covered Bollywood stories, stars, and controversies for decades. It also hosts one of India's most-watched annual awards ceremonies that recognises outstanding talent and achievement across Hindi cinema every year.

After Indian Independence, The Times Group changed hands from its British proprietors to an Indian industrialist in 1946. This ownership transfer was a defining moment in Indian press history, marking the shift of a major English newspaper into purely Indian private ownership.