The Hindu, started in 1878 as a weekly, became a daily in 1889 and from then on has been steadily growing to the circulation of 15,58,379 copies (ABC: July-December 2012) and a readership of about 22.58 lakhs. The Hindu's independent editorial stand and its reliable and balanced presentation of the news have over the years, won for it the serious attention and regard of the people who matter in India and abroad. The Hindu uses modern facilities for news gathering, page composition and printing. It is printed in seventeen centres including the Main Edition at Chennai (Madras) where the Corporate Office is based. The printing centres at Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvanathapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubli, Mohali, Allahabad and Kozhikode are connected with high speed data lines for news transmission across the country.