Starting a Newspaper in India

About RNI – Registrar of Newspapers for India

The Office of the Registrar of Newspapers for India, more popularly known as RNI came into being on 1st July, 1956, on the recommendation of the First Press Commission in 1953 and by amending the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867.

The Press and Registration of Books Act contains the duties and functions of the RNI. On account of some more responsibilities entrusted upon RNI during all these years, the office is performing both statutory as well as some non-statutory functions.

Process: How to register a Newspaper

1. The first step to start a newspaper is to get the title (name of the proposed newspaper) verified from RNI.
2. For this the publisher has to make an application for title verification indicating the name, language, periodicity, owner name and place of publication of the newspaper proposed, and submit it to the District Magistrate concerned.
3. The District Magistrate after ensuring the credentials of the applicant, will forward the application to the RNI, who in turn checks the availability of the title and if found verifies it. RNI informs the DM and publisher, the availability of the title by issuing a letter of title verification.
4. After this, the publisher has to file a declaration with the District Magistrate in the prescribed format available and can start publishing the newspaper.
5. The first issue of the newspaper should be printed within 45 days from the date of authentication of the declaration if it is a daily or weekly and in case of other periodicals, within 90 days.
6. The application for registration can be submitted to the RNI along with an attested copy of the declaration, copy of title verification, first issue of the newspaper and a ‘No Foreign Tie up’ affidavit duly attested by a Notary.
7. The newspaper should contain volume number, issue number, title prominently displayed on the cover page and all pages, date line and page number on all pages and an imprint line containing the name of printer, publisher, owner and editor, address of the place of publication and name and address of the printing press.
8. If the printer and publisher are different persons, separate declarations are required.

Download Forms for registration of a Newspaper

• Title Verification
• Title Registration
• Declaration
• Ownership Statement
• Ownership Change
• Annual Statement
• Foreign Direct Investment
• Import of Printing Machinery
• Application Form For Import Of Newsprint
• Import of Newsprint 
• Daily press newspapers 
• Exemption under FCRA
• Return for Imported Newsprint
• No Foreign Tie-up Affidavit 
• Indigenous Newsprint

Duties of Publisher

• Deliver copies of newspapers to the press registrar within 48 hrs of its publication.
• Annual Statement required in Form II.
• Statement of ownership and other particulars about newspaper in Form IV.
• Statement of daily Press as prescribed in Annexure X.
• The publisher using imported newsprint would also have to submit the return regarding purchase and consumption of imported newsprint as prescribed in Annexure-VIII.

Legislation

• The Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867
• The Registration of Newspapers (Central) Rules, 1956

Rules and Regulations

• According to the PRB Act, the printer and publisher are required to make declarations, before the District/Presidency/Sub-Divisional Magistrate within whose local jurisdiction the newspaper will be printed or published, to the effect that he/she is the printer/publisher of the said newspaper.
• It should contain complete details of the paper, such as language in which published, place of publication etc. The declaration has to be authenticated by the Magistrate before the newspaper can be published.
• Before authenticating a declaration, the Magistrate has to confirm, after enquiring from the Registrar of Newspapers, that the condition mentioned in section 6 of the PRB act is satisfied.