India's leading national daily had a certified circulation of 2.145 million copies per day for the second half of 2001 compared with USA Today's 2.120 million copies, ABC's latest figures reveal.
Times of India president and chief executive officer, Pradeep Guha, attributed the steep gains to its focus on editorial quality and competitive pricing.
"We got more readers by giving them more for less. The 'Invitation Price' (campaign) is a marketing manoeuvre, which is today imitated not just in India but in other countries as well."
Guha said editorial improvements included primed-up local coverage to introducing additional pages for sports, business, entertainment and metro supplements such as Bombay Times, Delhi Times and Bangalore Times.
In May this year, the paper unveiled a slimmer design in line with international trends. According to Guha, the price and product upgrades pushed its Delhi and Bangalore editions to the top of their markets. "It enabled us to introduce new editions in Pune, Calcutta and Hyderabad and our flagship Mumbai edition has almost doubled in circulation."
