Hindustan Times is planning to launch a business paper in India. HT Media, which owns Hindustan Times and Hindustan said that it has appointed Raju Narisetti as the new business paper's editor. It is not clear whether the daily will be based in Mumbai or Delhi.

Raju Narisetti will report to HT Media CEO Rajiv Verma. Mr Narisetti is now the editor of Wall Street Journal Europe and deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.

HT Media said that Narisetti is a perfect fit in the company's plan to build a world-class business newspaper. The company also feels that there is an "obvious place" for a high-quality business daily.

HT Media said Raju has the right experience, exposure and respect to launch an unrivalled Indian business newspaper that will gain international recognition over time.

The launch of HT's business newspaper, which is expected over a few months' time, is expected to overturn the league tables in Indian business space. One of HT Media's IPO plans was to raise resources for HT's expansion into the Mumbai market, launch of HT Radio and launch of the HT business daily.

In India, the business newspaper space is occupied by market leader Economic Times, followed by BusinessLine, Financial Express and Business Standard. Economic Times leads by a huge margin, with BusinessLine as a clear No.2. The No.3 and No.4 positions are tightly contested by BS and FE.

Narisetti, 39, has responsibility for European and Middle East/Africa coverage for all global editions of WSJ. He played a crucial role in the development of the European and Asian editions of WSJ, including the highly successful launch of the compact and online format in October last year. A 13-year veteran of The Wall Street Journal, his leadership has resulted in many journalism honours for the newspaper, including the 2004 Overseas Press Club award and six 'Business Journalist of the Year' awards in 2005.

Narisetti joined business journalism as a reporter with Economic Times in 1989. Before joining WSJ, he was with Dayton Daily News.