According to the recent ABC Jan-June 2010 report, for the six-month period ending June 30, the daily circulation of Lokmat Pune climbed to 3,73,808.The Pune edition itself showed a growth of over 1,00,000 copies over the previous period.
The circulation increase is said to be a result of a strategic plan called “Operation Redbox” wherein the entire circulation team was assigned targets and was motivated to achieve them. Other initiatives included the roping in of hawkers to distribute copies, an out-of-home promotional activity, a toll-free number and a daily coupon for readers, and the publishing of the newspaper on the days after public holidays.
"Good journalism and smart marketing has borne results with a quantum jump in our Pune numbers. Pune is an important market for us and our team is geared up to add more copies with every ABC. With the installation of all new colour printing machinery, the stress as always will be to give the readers a quality product," said Rishi Darda, executive director of Lokmat Group.
Bharat Kapadia, director on the board, commented, “We are glad to have struck a chord with the Punekars/ites/neris and efforts continue to improve our offering to the discerning readers. Lokmat is a leader in Maharashtra & Goa and we wish to establish clear leadership in all our markets.”