The government order came against Hyderabad-based Midram Publications, which published and registered the title with the Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI). The company also reportedly obtained a no-objection certificate from IHT itself.

Legally speaking, Midram Publications - owned by Indian publishers - claimed that they had not violated any of the norms laid down by the federal government under its recently-liberalised print media policies, because the ownership of the company was not vested with any foreign publishing company.

However, the government was of the opinion that Midram Publications was violating the print media policy, at least in spirit, by publishing IHT locally with the full support of the international publisher.

As per the print media policy, a foreign publisher can take up upto 26 per cent equity in an news-based Indian publishing company. For scientif and trade journals, the limit on foreign investment is pegged at 74 per cent. Another clause states that an Indian publication should carry no more than 7.5 per cent of its content under syndication from a foreign publication.

On its part, Midram Publications has reportedly decided to fight it out with the government because the ownership of the company is not divested with the international publishing company.

The government is building up its case on the percentage of content sourced by the Indian publication from the international editions of IHT, as well as the fact that the masthead of the Indian publication was exactly similar to the international one.

This IHT issue is likely to affect the legitimate entry of other publishing companies into the country. The bureaucracy will get slower in approving foreign direct investment in Indian print media companies as well as registering publication titles, irrespective of whether these are owned by Indian or international publishing companies.

The IHT issue itself highlighted this strange fact that the issue of foreign equity in Indian print media companies is governed by a 1956 federal cabinet (of ministers) decision disallowing foreign equity in Indian publishing companies. The same was recently amended by a policy announcement, allowing foreign investment in different categories.

The government has realised that it needs a more comprehensive law that can be enforced in a court of law or which can be used to initiate any legal action against defaulting publishers.

The information and broadcasting ministry of the federal government, under which the media gets covered, has now sought assistance of the law and judiciary ministry in framing a law, to clearly lay down do's and dont's for publishers in India.

As an immediate exercise, the government is pondering over issuing an ordinance immediately to give it more teeth.

This entire exercise is likely to be a long-drawn out process because the I&B minister, Mr S Jaipal Reddy, is now having an opinion that the government establish a regulatory body to monitor all media, including television and radio.

According to TAM Media Research's adspend figures, print media generated revenues of about Rs 2,140 crore (USD 475 million / GBP 258 million), against the electronic media's share of Rs 2,202 crore (USD 489 million / GBP 265 million) for the 5-month period of January-May, 2004.

The figures for the corresponding period in the year 2003 were Rs 1,540 crore and Rs 2,116 crore respectively.

This effectively means a 38 per cent increase in print's revenues, while the electronic media's revenues increased by just four per cent.

The change is largely attributed to an increased spending by customers on white goods, while spends on fast-moving consumer goods have stagnated. These two categories of advertisers have shown preferences for print and electronic media respectively.

This is in direct relation to the frentic pace at which the Indian economy is growing and the increased purchasing capacity of the growing Indian middle-class.

The increase in print's revenues is also partly attributed to the general elections in the country, when political parties used print on a large scale.

A new category of print advertisers included the mushrooming shopping malls across the country.

The formal announcement of Pearson's interest in Business Standard was made in September last year, in the wake of the Indian government allowing foreign equity participation in news-based publication houses.

The two partners finally announced the deal, after obtaining all the necessary clearances from the I&B as well as other ministries.

The first child of the marriage is one full page of FT content being published in Business Standard from Monday to Saturday.

At the announcement press conference, FT chairman Sir David Bell said, "Our idea is to make Business Standard the top newspaper in India which is unrivalled. The paper already enjoys a great reputation."

He has said that their stake in BS could rise in the future, depending upon the growth plans to be collectively defined by both the partners.

John Ridding, editor and publisher of Financial Times, Asia, said: "International companies are seeing India as an important market. Not only is India a significant part of our Asian strategy, it will play a key role in our overall long-term business strategy. Growing our brand and business in India is the next step in the evolution of our Asia edition."

Though is likely to be a 50:50 JV initially, an application made by Magz International with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board sought approval for BBC's investment in the company to an extent of 74 per cent - as allowed by the federal government's recent policy in foreign investment in Indian print media companies.

The relationship will formally take off after all the necessary clearances are obtained by the company.

It has been reported that BBC's investment in Magz International would be through World Wide Channel Investments Ltd (Channel), a subsidiary of BBC World Wide Ltd. The venture plans to take over the publishing of the 29 magazines published by the Times group.

These magazines include Femina, Filmfare, Femina Allure, JLT (Just Like That), IAGT (It's A Guy Thing), Kidzone, Strategic Marketing and Shipping Journal

Titled "Harmony - Celebrate Age", the magazine has been launched by The Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Trust and will be spear-headed by its managing trustee Tina Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries' vice chairman and managing director Anil Ambani.

For its publishing backbone, the publication will depend on New Delhi-based India Today group, which will provide all printing and distribution services.

Tina Ambani said at the launch party that the effort to promote senior citizens' cause will go beyond the magazine to interactivity centres as well as a dedicated website.

"The objective of Harmony is to help the elderly sustain their sense of pride and self-esteem. We hope to instill a greater confidence through a variety of interactive activities into 75.9 million elderly people in the country, of which 9.52 per cent live a lonely life," she said.

Launching the new daily, a company spokesman said it will have a contemporary and trendy look, while being "an independent, unbiased and forthright newspaper."

Indian readers are witnessing several launches of daily newspapers and editions in non-English local languages, while magazines in non-English languages are largely experiencing stagnation.

Publishing in local languages is increasingly becoming a business challenge because of the younger generation preferring to read English publications.

The ostensible reason presented by the group is that the population segment with higher purchasing power - denoted by SEC A1+ category - is growing in the region.

However, for sure, wooing businesses to the east is a long-term bet that the publication is placing on its own future advertising revenues and growth.

The group's managing direction Aniruddha Lahiri made a presentation on the opportunities in the east to a meeting of business leaders in New Delhi recently.

Lahiri said, "Kolkata is fast closing in on other metros in terms of product penetration, media use and lifestyle activities."