DNA was first launched as a broadsheet newspaper out of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India on 30 July 2005[2] through a 50:50 joint venture between the Zee Media Corporation and the Dainik Bhaskar group under the company name Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.[2] The newspaper had first launched its outdoor advertising campaign through billboards and placards in Mumbai during early 2005, with the tagline, "Speak Up, It's in Your DNA",[3][4] which became its catch-phrase over the months.

With the announcement of the launch of DNA came several other rival newspapers by large media conglomerates in the city, including the first-time-ever Mumbai edition of the predominantly north-Indian Hindustan Times[5] and the Times of India's rival the Mumbai Mirror[6] newspaper that was later digitised into a web portal during the pandemic.

[10] Over the years, the paper further expanded into local editions at Surat and Ahmedabad,[11] then Pune,[12] then Jaipur,[13] then Bangalore,[14] then Indore,[15] and finally Delhi.

[19] The paper had begun to suffer tremendous losses over the years; it started shuttering its operations in Surat shortly after its launch,[9] and, by 2012, Zee had taken over the rest of the ownership of DNA from the Bhaskar group.

[24] In October 2019, Zee Media Corporation announced that the entire newspaper (including the remaining editions in Ahmedabad and Mumbai) would be closed[25][26] with the aim of optimizing costs and reducing the company's losses.