A speech by new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made history as the first current affairs broadcast by private radio in the country.

News bulletins have been banned on FM since the launch of the first private stations in 2001.

But most private radio networks agreed to carry Modi’s speech, ‘Mann Ki Baat’ (Message from the Mind) on Friday at 11am Indian time.

It was originally only planned to air on public broadcaster All India Radio’s stations.

But with news bulletins in limited form being allowed from next year, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting requested that private stations carry his speech.

MY FM has decided to air the speech on all its 17 stations across seven states in the country.

The 45-station network Big 92.7 FM will carry live excerpts of the speech and in non-Hindi speaking regions it will also have a panel discussion.

The new Indian leader has courted the media since before his election earlier this year.

An estimated 1 billion people were expected to hear his message, which was translated simultaneously into 24 Indian languages.