About US

Virakesari is one of the leading Tamil daily newspapers in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest and the largest circulated Tamil Newspaper in Sri Lanka. Virakesari is owned by Express Newspapers (Ceylon) (Private) Limited, one of the leading print and web media organization in Sri Lanka.

Virakesari was founded by PPR. Subramanian in the first half of 20th century. Subramanian was an entrepreneur and journalist from the village Avanipatti in Tamil Nadu, India.

The first edition was published on 6th August 1930 under the masthead Virakesari meaning "Victorious Lion".

In 1970, Express Newspapers (Ceylon) Limited was registered as a private company and as publisher of the Virakesari newspaper. It was the intention of the Directors that as a company, expansion programs could provide for a wide range of Tamil language publications for the Tamil speaking population.

Express Newspapers (Ceylon) Limited also publishes a wide range of magazines and newspapers catering to the different sectors and markets of the Tamil speaking population.

The Online Division of Express Newspapers launched virakesari.lk, a 24x7 breaking news website, in 2002, and in 2005 they launched Virakesari's E-paper, which was the world's first Tamil E-paper.

E-papers (Electronic paper) are displayed in electronic devices such as PCs, Laptops, mobile phones, and tablets that mimic the appearance of the ordinary newspaper. Unlike the newspapers, e-paper provides the text and image zooming facility for the readers to make them more comfortable to read, and provide a wider viewing angle than reading the physical newspaper.

Our Virakesari websites and epaper version boasts over 2.5 million hits from across the world. Virakesari also plays a significant role in the field of social media having large numbers of young audience engaged on their websites.

Virakesari was voted the "Best Designed Newspaper" at the "Journalism Awards for Excellence 2005" by the Editors Guild and the Sri Lanka Press Institute. In 2010 virakesari.lk won the title of "Sri Lankas' Favorite Tamil Website" in polling conducted by bestweb.lk.