Issue 12, dated April 1, 2005
 
 
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The top 10 positions in the Indian Readership Survey's Round 1 of 2005 have gone to non-English publications, belying fears that growing urbanisation of the country's population and increased English education would gradually affect the readership of non-English publications. More…
Amidst reports of non-English publications showing significant growth in India, Financial Times will restrict itself to English-language publishing. More…
Federal information and broadcasting minister, S. Jaipal Reddy, has ruled out any increase in the existing limits of allowing foreign direct investment in the country's print publishing sector. More…
FORTUNE magazine is in talks with several publications in India to launch an edition in the country. More…
The war for the country's biggest print advertising revenue market - Mumbai - has begun, with a serious challenge being posed to the no. 1 and established daily The Times of India of the Bennett, Coleman & Co. More…
Amidst all the strategic moves happening in Mumbai, the almost dormant national publishing group Indian Express picked up a 10 % stake in Mid-day Multimedia Ltd, which publishes the city's second largest English daily Mid-day. More…
Forbes Group (Indian) and HDFC launch a publishing company:
The Forbes Group (India's oldest business group, owned by Shapoorji Pallonji) and HDFC Limited have joined hands to start a new Company - Next Gen Publishing Limited (NGPL), which has been established to offer the best in the field of print publishing, through niche / special interest magazines and other print products. NGPL plans to become a leading content generation company, a company release said. More…
New launches:
English daily Deccan Chronicle's Chennai edition, brand equity magazine India Now, Dainik Jagran's new edition in Bihar state, special interest magazine Smart Photography and an eveninger in Ahmedabad city are the new launches announced in the country. More…
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Top 10 positions go to non-English publications in Indian Readership Survey:
The top 10 positions in the Indian Readership Survey's Round 1 of 2005 have gone to non-English publications, belying fears that growing urbanisation of the country's population and increased English education would gradually affect the readership of non-English publications.

The largest-read English daily, The Times of India of Bennett, Coleman & Co., retained the 11th position, while registering a marginal drop of readership by 47,000 to 7.05 million readers.

Elsewhere too, except for English daily Hindustan Times and English weekly newsmagazine Outlook, all other English publications registered a negative growth over the preceding 6-month period of the IRS.

Hindi dailies Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar retained the first and the second positions respectively, with national readership figures of 17.47 million and 13.42 million respectively. These two publications are aggressively pursuing markets with newer editions in small towns, clocking growth rates of 6.03 and 2.89 per cent respectively.

Other categories, which have registered negative growth, are business and financial dailies and magazines (in all languages), of course with one or two exceptions in each category.

A majority of the dailies in all non-English languages have shown positive growth over the previous period.
Financial Times will stick to publishing in English:
Amidst reports of non-English publications showing significant growth in India, Financial Times will restrict itself to English-language publishing.

Financial Times group CEO Olivier Fleurot, who visited India for the first time after FT made an investment in English daily Business Standard, made this announcement, while referring to the fact that the most prominent language of business in the country was English.

He said that his group would be focussing on printing and publishing an Indian edition of FT, rather than air-lifting FT's copies printed in any other country.

During his visit, Mr Fleurot launched FT's special India supplement, titled "Indian and Globalisation".
Govt will not increase FDI limits in publishing:
Federal information and broadcasting minister, S. Jaipal Reddy, has ruled out any increase in the existing limits of allowing foreign direct investment in the country's print publishing sector.

Mr Reddy made a categorical statement in this respect at a seminar organised in New Delhi recently, while stating that the federal government was indeed in favour of facilitating increased foreign investments in several Indian publishing companies, "subject to the existing FDI limits".

He referred to the formation of Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the foreign investments in print publishing, the minister said he would prefer the industry to be self-regulatory, rather than the government imposing regulations on publishing and conduct.
Fortune magazine too comes knocking:
FORTUNE magazine is in talks with several publications in India to launch an edition in the country.

"We are looking at various partners to publish the Indian version of Fortune," the magazine's International Editor, Mr Robert Friedman, told Business Line, a business daily published from the South . He said the talks are at an early stage. The magazine is also exploring the option of syndicating some of its content to publications in India.

The newspaper quoted Mr Friedman saying that the magazine would abide by the Indian regulatory requirements for publishing foreign magazines in the country.

He is reported to be of the opinion that they might consider a licensing relationship too, even if it was in respect of publishing a non-English version of the international title in India.
The war for the biggest print ad market begins:
The war for the country's biggest print advertising revenue market - Mumbai - has begun, with a serious challenge being posed to the no. 1 and established daily The Times of India of the Bennett, Coleman & Co.

Advertisements of DNA (Daily News and Analysis), a product of a 50:50 joint venture between Dainik Bhaskar publishing group and television company Zee Telefilms Ltd, have already been plastered on hoardings across the city, even though the launch of the daily is still some weeks away.

Bennett, Coleman & Co. has also pulled up its sleeves, announcing the launch of another English daily Bombay-Mirror from May 15. Apart from increasing the competition for DNA, Bombay-Mirror is expecting to pick up several editorial employees from the market, to make it difficult for DNA to get good talent.

A promotional budget of Rs 600 million - the biggest-ever for a launch in the country - has been earmarked for DNA, the promoters of which have already taken reigning publishing company to court for unfair trade practices. The promoters claimed damages of Rs 1 billion in the court, after Bennett, Coleman & Co. tried to usurp the effect of or hijacking DNA's teaser advertisements.

The case in the court got over soon with the company committing to the court that it will not pre-empt any of the advertisements of DNA.

North-based Hindustan Times has also announced its plans to launch an English-language daily in Mumbai. However, HT has been going slow on its plans. HT's earlier plans of entering the city by acquiring controlling stake in Mumbai's no.2 daily Mid-day didn't fructify.
ToI offloads part stake; Indian Express picks up 10% in Mid-day:
Amidst all the strategic moves happening in Mumbai, the almost dormant national publishing group Indian Express picked up a 10 % stake in Mid-day Multimedia Ltd, which publishes the city's second largest English daily Mid-day.

Indian Express bought the stake directly from the promoters for an undisclosed amount, saying it was merely a strategic investment, and not an effort to wrest management control from the existing promoters of Mid-day. Even after this sale, the promoters of Mid-day retain over 50 per cent of the equity in the Mumbai stock exchange listed company.

In the wake of the above development, Bennett, Coleman & Co., which made several futile attempts to buy control of Mid-day, offloaded 3.26 per cent of the over 7 per cent equity that it held in the latter.
Forbes Group (Indian) and HDFC launch a publishing company:
The Forbes Group (India's oldest business group, owned by Shapoorji Pallonji) and HDFC Limited have joined hands to start a new Company - Next Gen Publishing Limited (NGPL), which has been established to offer the best in the field of print publishing, through niche / special interest magazines and other print products. NGPL plans to become a leading content generation company, a company release said.

NGPL is headed by Mr. Hoshang Billimoria (former Vice Chairman and Managing Director Tata Infomedia Limited), who has over 14 years experience in the Indian publishing and printing industry. Mr Billimoria was responsible for starting the Directory and Magazine publishing business at Tata Infomedia Limited, where he was instrumental in the company's turnaround from a loss making printing company to a successful publishing company. During his tenure, several special interest magazines in the B2B and B2C space were launched and they became leaders in their respective categories. Also, the Yellow Pages Directories that were introduced in twelve cities became huge successes.

Commenting on the future of Next Gen, Mr. Hoshang Billimoria, CEO said, "Next Gen plans to enter into specialized areas, with high quality product offerings, meeting the needs of discerning readers and users. Our team has rich experience in launching well researched, innovative products, and marketing them successfully."

NGPL will be launching its first magazine shortly.
New launches:
English daily Deccan Chronicle's Chennai edition, brand equity magazine India Now, Dainik Jagran's new edition in Bihar state, special interest magazine Smart Photography and an eveninger in Ahmedabad city are the new launches announced in the country.

- Deccan Chronicle, the Hyderabad-based English daily which is now launched in Chennai, seeks to challenge the established The Hindu.

- India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) has conceived of India Now magazine as one of the instruments to promote and market India as a business opportunity.

- Dainik Jagran is all set to launch another edition in Bihar by March-end. The Muzaffarpur edition is significant for the group as the publication will now have a presence in the entire state as it will reach out the readers in North Bihar.

- Next Gen Publishing, a company just set up by the Forbes Group and HDFC, has announced the launch of its first niche magazine Smart Photography targeted at photography enthusiasts.

- Sambhaav Group, promoted by Vadodaria family, has launched an afternoon newspaper in Ahmedabad on March 12. The eveninger has been named Sambhaav Metro and priced at Re. 1.

 
 
The newsletter - Indian Media Observer - is produced by Chronosphere’s CEO Bhupesh Trivedi personally. Chronosphere is based at B205, Nirman Palace, Pump House, Andheri (East), Mumbai – 400093, INDIA.