The move comes amid a boom in the news business. With revenue surging 30 per cent in the past 18 months, the segment now accounts for seven per cent of the country's US$750 million annual television spend.
The channel now covers the full spectrum of news, from politics, business and investigative reports to consumer issues, crime and the environment. International news is provided by global news agencies.
Ravina Raj Kohli, Star News India president, said: "The repositioning of the channel was based on the extensive research we conducted across India about what audiences really need from news.
"There was a gap in the news market and people weren't getting the news they wanted - the news that is relevant, that matters in the lives of Indians today. We're now giving them exactly that."
Over the past five years, content on Star News was provided by NDTV. About 60 per cent of programmes were broadcast in Hindi and the remainder in English.
Kohli said that turning it into a Hindi channel would broaden the appeal to Indians across a wider, more diverse demographic range because they all speak the language.
In order to deliver on its promise to viewers, Star News has built up a team of 300 dedicated staff based in its Mumbai headquarters, New Delhi and a network of 21 news bureaus.
The channel has also hired reporters and anchors who are well-known to Indian audiences for their journalistic endeavours.
"They are the faces of a Star News team charged with a mission to bring Indians the news that counts, first and in-depth," Kohli said.
Meanwhile, NDTV is launching two news channels this month - one in English and one in Hindi - following the decision by Star to go it alone.
They are among a number of other similar launches in India over past few weeks by companies such as the Sahara Group's Sahara Samay Rashtriya and TV Today's Headlines Today, as well as an image makeover at Zee News. The news boom is due to a changing mindset.
TV Today executive director and chief executive officer, G. Krishnan, said: "Until some time ago, news was seen as having relevance only during big events. Today, it's looked upon as a way to plan one's day-to-day life."
Additional reporting by Divesh Gupta.
