American private equity company Blackstone Group has announced that it will invest Rs. 225 crore in Jagran Prakashan (JPL) which is the publisher of popular Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran.

Blackstone will be investing Jagran Media Network Private, which is holding JPL group’s media and communications. The network is going to file for formal approves with Foreign Investment Promotion Board. This news has come after a British newspaper Independent News & Media sold its 7.8% in Jagran Prakashan last month for Rs 260 crore in open market deals.

When asked about their alliance with Blackstone Group, the Managing Director and Chairman of JPL Mahendra Mohan Gupta said that the interest of Blackstone group in sharing their knowledge with management and understanding of media as an industry will bring more value to JPL and will benefit its shareholders.

He said, “Our endeavour shall be to make the best use of their expertise and relationships in driving our top—most agenda of organic as well as inorganic growth and making all the stake holders happier.”

The Dainik Jagran newspaper has37 editions and ove 200 sub—editions and it is published in 11 states in India.
Managing Director and Chairman of Blackstone Advisors India Private Ltd Chairman Akhil Gupta said in the coming years, print media in local Indian languages will see a significant growth which is expected to be triggered by increasing demand in the Tier II/III cities and villages.

He said,  “Our experience in the media sector in India and globally will enable us to be value—added partners to management and strengthen the company’s leadership position.”

The 2010 season of IPL is sure to pay Rs. 150 crore to the government in taxes. The highly popular cricketing event has already collected Rs 110 crore as TDS in just the first 15 days.

A tax official said, “We expect direct tax collection of Rs. 150 crore. We have already mopped up over Rs. 110 crore in the first fortnight.” He added that the department is expecting Rs. 90 to Rs. 100 crore from BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and an additional Rs 50 to Rs. 60 crore from IPL franchises.

he franchises have paid almost Rs 50 crore as taxes and BCCI has already paid Rs 60 crore to the tax department. This year’s collections are almost Rs 60 crore more than the tax collected from first season. The second season of IPL was held in South Africa due to security reasons.

Lalit Modi Commissioner of IPL estimates that the tournament would generate $1 billion dollar this year. He said, “The tournament is still on and we have not reached the final number… Yes, it will be more than a billion dollars (about Rs 4,700 crore) this season … last season we did USD 450 million. Thereafter, we would double every year.”

The official broadcasters Sony is also expected to a business of over Rs. 700 crore of business. IPL has had tremendous success as a business idea and its success has increased its brand value to a whopping $ 4.13 billion this year which is $ 2.10 billion more than last year’s figure.

The 59th annual Miss World pageant took place on 12 Dec, 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa, airing live in the US on E! Enter.

2009 marked the first time the Gallagher Convention Centre was chosen to host the event. in Midrand, South Africa, where 112 contestants from around the world competed in this year’s pageant.

Miss Gibraltar, Kaiane Aldorino has been crowned The Miss world 2009 by Miss World 2008, Ksenia Sukhinova.