The Hindu, India's national newspaper, has the second largest circulation for a single-edition newspaper in India, and the largest circulation for a single-edition English-language newspaper in the country. With a circulation of 1.17 million copies, The Hindu has its largest base of circulation in South India, especially Tamil Nadu. Begun in 1878, it was founded on the principles of fairness and justice. Headquartered at Chennai (formerly called Madras), The Hindu was published weekly when it was launched and started publishing daily in 1889.

The Hindu became, in 1995, the first Indian newspaper to offer an online edition. . The Hindu is the most circulated periodical in India with a circulation of 1,102,783 copies, according to the Registrar of Newspapers for India (The Sunday Times of India is second with a circulation of 1,038,954 copies).

The Hindu is published from 12 locations - Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Madurai, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. According to Indian Readership Survey 2007, Round 1, The Hindu has a readership of 2.2 million.