On the first floor of the Old Lady of Boribunder, the whimsical name by which the heritage headquarters of India’s least lady-like newspaper juggernaut is known, is an old Linotype machine. This quaint antique reminds all of the astonishing leaps made in more than just printing technology. Sometime in the mid-1980s, hundreds of these machines were junked to make way for a revolution in computerisation and, in the mother of surprises, economics.

At the end of that decade, Bennett, Coleman & Co (BCCL), the holding entity for the Times Group, eased out its professional managers and returned the company to family leadership. Vineet and Sameer Jain, the two sons of promoter patriarch Ashok Jain, took over as managing director and vice-chairman, respectively. In direct consequence, the closely held company’s revenues rose nearly fourfold in a little over a decade.

BCCL’s annual return on investment of over 25 per cent puts it among the most profitable enterprises in India. Although the company’s balance sheet is not available, estimates put BCCL’s FY07 profit after tax at Rs 800 crore. FY08 could well see the company clock Rs 1,000 crore. “Our immediate target is to become a billion-dollar company, and we like to double our revenue every three to four years,” said Ravi Dhariwal, CEO (print), BCCL.

The company achieved an overall ranking of No. 26 among the 71 companies that lead India’s corporate world. Setting trends that give short shrift to tall claims by contenders, BCCL tops BW-IMRB’s survey of the most respected companies (MRC) in media and entertainment.