India's voracious appetite for printed publications helped drive a 13 per cent increase in claimed circulation last year.

The annual report of the Registrar of Newspapers reports an increase of almost 60 million (to 510.52 million) in the number of copies per publishing day in 2014/15.

At the same time, the report notes a 5.8 per cent increase in the total number of print publications - to an incredible 105,443 registered publications of which almost 15,000 are newspapers. The 5817 new publications registered in the year were offset by just 34 which ceased operations.

The majority of publications are in Hindi (42,493) followed by 13,661 in English, and these statistics are reflected in the claimed circulations. Hindi publications claimed a total 257.76 million copies, compared to the 62.66 million of English, and 41.27 million of Urdu publications.

According to the report, the largest circulated daily was ABP (Anand Bazaar Patrika) with 1.17 million copies, followed by the Delhi edition of English-language daily the Hindustan Times (1.018 million). Topping the list of Hindi dailies is the Punjab Kesari, Jallandar (742,190 copies).

Among multi-edition dailies, the Times of India - said to be the world's largest English-language newspaper with 33 editions - claimed a total circulation of 4.63 million copies, followed by Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar (34 editions) with 3.69 million copies.

Sunday newspapers fall into the 'periodicals' list, topped by the Sunday Times of India with 885,201 copies, with Sunday Navbharat Times topping the Hindi list with a claimed circulation of 704,257 copies.