Hindustan Media Ventures Limited incorporated on July 9, 1918 under the erstwhile Indian Companies Act, 1956 as a public limited company under the name --The Behar Journals and received the Certificate of Commencement of business on January 14, 1919. On November 17, 1987 the company's name was changed to Searchlight Publishing House Limited in order to capitalize on the name earned by its publication – Searchlight- which had become synonymous with the company’s activities for over 67 years. Subsequently, the name of the company was changed to its present name -- Hindustan Media Ventures Limited to reflect the expanded business activities intended to be undertaken by the company and the fresh Certificate of Incorporation to this effect was issued on November 11, 2008.

The company is one of the leading print media companies in India in terms of readership. They publish and print ‘Hindustan’, the third largest daily newspaper in India in terms of readership with a readership of 9.3 million readers. Hindustan began publication in 1936, owing its origins to and serving as a medium for the freedom movement, and has been one of India‘s eminent Hindi newspaper dailies for over 70 years. Hindustan has the largest readership in key Hindi-speaking markets of Bihar and Jharkhand, with a strong and growing presence in Delhi NCR and the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. They are one of the fastest growing Hindi daily newspapers in India with a growth in Readership of 9.2% in the period between July 2006 and June 2009. Hindustan is published in four editions and 113 sub-editions.

Hindustan is presently printed at 16 locations in the states/regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Delhi NCR with a total installed rated capacity approximately 0.78 million copies per hour. These printing facilities are located at Agra, Allahabad, Bareilly, Bhagalpur, Dehradun, Delhi NCR, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Mohali, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Ranchi and Varanasi. They distribute their newspapers through a multi-tiered network of agents and vendors.

They also publish two Hindi magazines, Nandan, a children’s magazine, and Kadambini, a general interest magazine. In addition to their Hindi print publications, they also operate the website, livehindustan.com which focuses on providing news in Hindi with regional content. Further, they have also recently forayed into event management and customized event solutions.

Milestones:

1918

• Incorporation of the company as The Behar Journals Limited by individuals including Rajendra Prasad, Sachidannand Sinha and Syed Hassan Imam, who were the founder directors of the company

1919

• Commencement of business of the company
• Commissioning of printing press at Patna
• Commencement of printing and publishing of English newspaper -- Searchlight

1947

• Commencement of printing and publication of Hindi daily -- Pradeep at Patna

1986

• Commencement of printing of Hindi daily--Hindustan and the English daily --Hindustan Times on behalf of The Hindustan Times Limited at Patna
• Termination of printing and publication of the Hindi daily-- Pradeep and the English daily-- Searchlight

1987

• Company's name was changed to Searchlight Publishing House Limited, in order to capitalize on the name earned by its publication Searchlight

2000

• Commencement of printing of Hindi daily -- Hindustan and English daily -- Hindustan Times from Ranchi location, in terms of a printing agreement with the holding company and publisher of the said publications The Hindustan Times Limited

2008

• Company's name was changed to Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, so as to reflect the expanded business activities of the company

2009

• Acquisition of Hindi business from HT Media comprising of Hindi daily newspaper -- Hindustan including Ravivasriya Hindustan; magazines Nandan and Kadambini; and internet portals of the said publications, including all assets, liabilities and employees pertaining to the said Hindi business

2010

• Company has changed its name from Searchlight Publishing House Ltd. to Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd.
• Hind.Media - Launch of Hindi daily newspaper "Hindustan", at Gorakhpur.

2011

• The Company has launched the weekly "Hindustan Jobs" in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand.

2012

• The Company has launched the Hindi daily newspaper, namely, "Hindustan" in Moradabad.
  

Group compnies:

• HT Music and Entertainment Company
• HT Burda Media
• HT Digital Media Holdings
• Firefly e-Ventures
• HT Mobile Solutions
• Metropolitan Media Company