Which Is The Oldest News Agency In India?
India’s first news agency was started by journalist K.C. Roy between 1905 and 1910. This agency was taken over by an international agency before India gained its independence, and media people established their own national agency. Let’s look at the oldest existing news agencies in India.
Key Points
- API, India's first news agency (1905-1910), was acquired by Reuters in 1919.
- PTI, registered Aug 27, 1947, began operations Feb 1, 1949, becoming India's leading agency.
- PTI is India's largest non-profit news wire, run by 450+ newspapers, active today.
Have you ever thought about how your preferred daily newspaper or TV news channel gets news from each part of India? They do not send their own reporters for every city or town in India. Instead, they rely on wire services from huge agencies that gather accurate and timely information.
The leading news agencies of today are the Press Trust of India (PTI), Asian News International (ANI), and United News of India (UNI). They send reports to more than 1,000 media outlets on a daily basis. However, PTI is still the leading wire news service provider in India. In this article, we will discuss the evolution and major wire services in Indian journalism.
Which Is The Oldest News Agency In India?
The Associated Press of India (API) was the first-ever news agency that came into existence in India. API was founded between 1905 and 1910 AD by an innovative journalist, K.C. Roy, along with his co-journalists. But in the pre-independence era, API was subsequently taken over by the foreign wire Reuters in 1919.
But after the independence of India in 1947, the newspaper proprietors of India felt the necessity of having their own independent agency. Hence, Press Trust of India (PTI) was registered in Madras on 27th August 1947, and PTI subsequently took over the total network of API and started working independently from 1st February 1949.
In present times, PTI runs as a non-profit co-operative organisation run by more than 450 leading Indian newspapers. PTI employs about 400 permanent staff members as well as a large number of local correspondents covering more than 40,000 words of news per day.
List of Top 5 Oldest News Agencies in India
India has a rich tradition of wire journalism, which dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Numerous news agencies have been created in order to end the monopoly on information by the foreign press agencies. Below are presented the five oldest news agencies in India.
| Agency Name | Established In | Owner / Structure | Current Status & Details |
| Associated Press of India (API) | 1905 / 1910 | K. C. Roy (Later acquired by Reuters in 1919) | First Indian agency; merged into PTI in 1949. |
| United Press of India (UPI) | 1933 | Bidhu Bhusan Sengupta | Pre-independence national agency; closed in 1958. |
| Press Trust of India (PTI) | 1947 (Ops: 1949) | Non-profit cooperative of 450+ Indian newspapers | Active; largest and most dominant news wire in India. |
| Hindustan Samachar | 1948 | Multi-lingual cooperative society | Active; India's first multilingual agency (serves 10+ languages). |
| United News of India (UNI) | 1961 | Non-profit cooperative of newspaper proprietors | Active; second-largest national wire service in India. |
| Samachar Bharati | 1966 (Ops: 1967) | State government-backed cooperative | Active; specialised in Hindi and regional language reporting. |
| Asian News International (ANI) | 1971 | Private (Prem Prakash family / Reuters) | Active; leading multimedia and video news agency in South Asia. |
| Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) | 1986 | Private (Adani Group / AMG Media) | Active; major provider of digital, regional, and NRI news. |
| PTI-Bhasha | 1986 | Subsidiary of Press Trust of India | Active; primary Hindi-language news feed for major newspapers. |
Conclusion
Today, news agencies are the very pillars of modern journalism in India. From the beginning of API by K. C. Roy in the early 20th century to the foundation of PTI in 1947, Indian news agencies have been playing an immensely important role in keeping their citizens informed.
Now, more than 75 years later, cooperatives such as PTI and UNI are still providing factual and quick information to 90% of Indian newspapers and television channels. Without such agencies, the news we get on a daily basis would never have been so quick, easy, and accurate.
Kriti Barua is a skilled digital journalist and communications professional with 4+ years of experience, currently writing for the General Knowledge section at Jagran New Media. She has established herself as a subject matter expert in History, Geography, Trending National and International News, Sports, Science, and Defence, producing clear, reliable, and search-optimised content that connects with readers worldwide.
Kriti holds a BA degree from Delhi University and a one-year diploma in TV Production and Journalism, an academic background that adds research depth and strong storytelling instincts to her writing. Her experience spans brand writing, content marketing, and digital media, giving her a sharp understanding of what makes content both helpful to readers and visible in search.
At Jagran New Media, she applies this expertise to national and international news coverage, query-based articles, and in-depth pieces across her specialist subject areas. Her content is defined by easy language, factual accuracy, strong keyword strategy, and reader-friendly storytelling.
