Nature Publishing Group (NPG) has announced that it will be opening a new India division - NPG India, based in Gurgaon. Along with the recently transformed NPG Nature Asia-Pacific, the new organization will focus on publishing initiatives in India.

“It is exciting to see the emerging markets in Asia, India, Latin America and Spain developing. NPG is a global company and we would like continue to build strong relationships in regional markets and to support their growing research output,” commented Dr. Annette Thomas, Managing Director.

NPG India and NPG Latin America/Spain will focus on marketing, sales, advertising and society relationships and developing editorially-led local publishing projects in their respective territories, helping the growing body of outstanding research in these regions to become more visible on the global stage. Dr. Jaishree Srinivasan will direct publishing initiatives as Head of Business Development, NPG India.

“These offices will help NPG to build relationships with prestigious scientific and medical societies, strengthen links with prominent universities and make content more accessible throughout their respective regions,” continued Dr. Thomas.

The Conde Nast group of the US has decided to launch two of its best-known magazines, Vogue and Glamour, to India through a fully-owned subsidiary.

For the purpose, Conde Nast Asia Pacific, through which the investment into India will be routed, has made plans to acquire privately-owned Indian publishing company BVA Publishers Private Ltd.

Conde Nast will initially invest about $5 million, either directly or through affiliates, in the Indian company. It also plans to pump in additional equity in the Indian operations in the future.

The US company has applied to the information and broadcasting ministry and the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for permission to acquire BVA.

The government's media policy permits 100 per cent foreign equity in non-news and non-current affairs specialty magazines.

Once it acquires BVA, Conde Nast will licence the two brands to the subsidiary, which will pay an annual royalty to the US company based on its subscription, wholesale and advertising revenues.

Currently, Advance Magazine Publisher Inc, the parent company of Conde Nast, has a licensing agreement with Aroon Purie's Living Media to print and publish Indian editions of Golf Digest and Golf World. Conde Nast's new company in India will not affect its relationship Living Media.

Private equity investor Warburg Pincus has picked up a 7 per cent stake in the Hindi daily, Dainik Bhaskar, for Rs 150 crore, putting the valuation of the company at Rs 2143 crore.

Ambit Finance, the investment banker for the deal, confirmed that an agreement had been reached. Sudhir Agarwal, managing director, Bhaskar Group said, "The deal has been firmed up and will close within a week."

Dainik Bhaskar, the number two daily in the country, is part of the Bhaskar Group, which has presence in the media, textiles, fast-moving consumer goods and oil and solvents.

The Hindi publication has a presence in eight states with a daily circulation of 3.5 million copies.

At this valuation, Dainik Bhaskar ranks marginally ahead of the listed print media company, HT Media, which is current valued at Rs 2124 crore.

HT Media went public last year. Deccan Chronicle, another listed entity, ranks third with a market cap of Rs 2031 crore, followed by Jagran Prakashan (Rs 1508 crore), Mid-day Multimedia (Rs 320 crore) and Sandesh Rs 94 crore.

India Today Group is launching a morning broadsheet. Delhi-based HT Media also has reportedly firmed up plans to launch a business daily in the country.

Media reports, emanating from the 'FICCI-Frames' media event, stated that the India Today group would convert its afternoon tabloid, 'Today', into a daily morning broadsheet.

The reports said the group is planning to invest about Rs 100-150 crore in the project and that it's also scouting for a foreign partner to offer 26 per cent equity - the maximum that a foreign publisher can hold in any news-based publication.

HT Media, which publishing English daily, The Hindustan Times, will be launching a business newspaper soon. It has already appointed Chaitanya Kalbag, till recently head of Reuters Asia, as its editor.

ITC, a Noida based company, with a front-end in Fort Lauderdale, USA, is in the business of providing publishing services to book publishers around the world.

Following its recent acquisition of the UK-based Keyword Group Ltd, and Bangalore-based Cepha Imaging Systems, the new acquisition is expected to further consolidate Infomedia's position in the burgeoning publishing services industry with a presence in both the UK and the US.

The figures for the Indian newspaper market look very promising:

• Seeing that newspapers only reach 35% of the adult population, of which 65% is literate, there is significant room for growth.
• The sheer number of publications has created fierce competition which has kept prices low which in turn has caused publishers to depend more on advertising revenues.
• Advertising revenues in 2006 are predicted to see a 15 to 20% spike. In 2005, 48% of India's total advertising market went to newspapers, 7% more than went to television.
• Circulation could rise by a whopping 14% riding the back of the advertising boom.

Still, the market is facing some limits. The price of newsprint is skyrocketing which does not bode well for an industry that uses 1.6 billion tons of it per year. But analysts predict that new approaches and innovations will be an additional boon to the market.

Content, by some counts, will be increasingly diversified into niche publications whose cover price will be augmented to compliment the growing educated population. Publishers in turn will be less dependent on ad revenues. And new media will "drive growth."

IMQR, to be published in pdf form every quarter, will contain in-depth news and analysis, along with key interviews, based on developments that took place in the previous quarter in the Indian publishing sector.

It will also contain articles of forecast on what publishers can expect to see in India in the next quarter.

To be published as a reference manual, IMQR will be a priced document. The document will be available for US $ 20 if booked before April 30, 2006; for US $ 30 before May 31, 2006; US $ 40 before June 30, 2006; and US $ 50 thereafter.

Booking requests may please be sent to publisher@chronosphere.biz.