India's first free daily launched in the country's fourth-largest city, Chennai, in December.

The tabloid Ergo, published by Kasturi and Sons Ltd., has 16 pages, with a print run of 50,000.

The paper launched Dec. 10 and targets IT professionals ages 20 through 40. About 12 people are on staff, Newspaper Innovation reported Sunday.

Kasturi and Sons, which also publishes paid dailies The Hindu and Sportstar, is considering launching Ergo in cities across India that also have a high number of IT professionals, such as Bangalore and Hyderabad. India already has many community-based free weeklies such as Downtown and City Plus.

Meanwhile, Metro International has been in talks with the ABP group (Anand Bazaar Patrika) about launching a Metro edition in India, Newspaper Innovation reported.

Newspaper circulation in India grew to 79 million in 2005, up from 59 million in 2001, making it one of the fastest growing markets in the world, according to Newspaper Innovation.