| Govt
targets 8% growth rate in GDP: |
The
federal government's budget for the year 2004-05 is targetting
sustained growth rate of about eight per cent in the gross
domestic product (GDP) of the country. More… |
| Government
edict on overseas publications soon; IHT publisher defies govt
ban on publishing: |
The
federal information and broadcasting ministry is working overtime
to draft a new policy/law on publication of foreign titles
in the country. More… |
| Deccan
Chronicle seeks US $ 40 m private equity funding: |
| Deccan
Chronicle Holdings Ltd, an established publishing company from
Hyderabad in southern India, has chalked out ambitious plans,
for which it has entered the financial markets with an offer
of private equity, to raise US $ 40 million. More… |
| Railways
may end monopolistic situations for paper/magazine stalls: |
The
monopolistic situation enjoyed by newspaper/magazine/book
vendors at railway stations across the country will soon end.
More… |
| Getit
to grow from 18 to 30 cities: |
Getit,
the publisher of official telephone directories and yellow
pages, is getting aggressive announcing that it would spread
its presence from the current 18 cities to 30 cities across
the country in the current year itself. More… |
| India
to get first woman editor of a finance daily: |
Amongst
the four business and finance dailies in the country, the
Financial Express will be the first one to have a woman as
its editor. More… |
| The
Hindu too takes a step offshore: |
The
publishers of The Hindu - the largest selling English daily
in southern India - has joined the bandwagon of Indian publishers
taking a step outside in the International publishing market.
More… |
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|
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| Govt
targets 8% growth rate in GDP: |
|
|
|
The
federal government's budget for the year 2004-05 is targetting
sustained growth rate of about eight per cent in the gross
domestic product (GDP) of the country. The National Economic
Survey published by the government on the previous day reported
an almost 12 per cent growth rate in the year 2003-04.
This 12 per cent GDP growth rate was based on current prices.
The GDP growth rate was 8.1 per cent when based on the prices
prevailing a decade ago.
Though lagging behind Chinda, India's foreign currency assets
stood at US $ 107 billion at the end of year 2003-04.
The budget, presented by the federal finance minister Mr C.
Chidambaram, as expected, was a balance between need for economic
reforms and pro-left policies imposed by the government's
coalition partners.
Power, infrastructure development, education, agriculture
and water supply were the thrust areas of the budget.
The minister also announced bold steps in allowing higher
foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance, telecommunication
and domestic aviation sector. He proposed to raise the sectoral
cap for FDI in telecommunications from 49 per cent to 74 per
cent; in civil aviation from 40 per cent to 49 per cent; and
in insurance from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.
While the left parties of the coalition government opposed
the above proposals, a stubborn Congress leadership silenced
the opposition in a matter of few days. |
| Government
edict on overseas publications soon; IHT publisher defies
govt ban on publishing: |
|
|
|
The
federal information and broadcasting ministry is working overtime
to draft a new policy/law on publication of foreign titles
in the country.
This will be further to a federal government proposal of setting
up an investment commission to consider and approve all projects
in which foreign direct investment is proposed.
The new policy/law is certainly not going to ban foriegn titles
in India, but it will be further to the already liberalised
policy on foreign investment in Indian publishing sector.
The hyper-activity on this front is in the wake of the government
finding its own back to walls in respect of the publishing
of International Herald Tribune's Indian edition.
The local publishers, of what is essentially IHT's Indian
edition, have so far defied the government's order to stop
publishing of the newspaper in the country.
The existing policies allow foreign ownership of Indian publishing
companies to varying degrees. However, in IHT's case, the
government found itself weak against the publishing company,
whose ownership is completely Indian.
However, till such time that a new policy/law gets drafted
or passed, the government has restricted the Registrar of
Newspapers in India (RNI) from registering any foreign title
in the country.
Till the time the new policy/law gets approved, the entry
of foreign publishing companies into India could face some
bureaucratic hurdles.
|
| Deccan
Chronicle seeks US $ 40 m private equity funding: |
|
|
|
Deccan
Chronicle Holdings Ltd, an established publishing company
from Hyderabad in southern India, has chalked out ambitious
plans, for which it has entered the financial markets with
an offer of private equity, to raise US $ 40 million.
Media websites and certain newsreports said that the company
has already appointed ICICI Securities Ltd as its merchant
banker to generate the required funds.
The company has already raised about US $ 12 million secured
redeemable taxable cumulative non-convertible debentures (NCDs)
by way of private placement.
The hyper-activity on this front is in the wake of the government finding its own back to the walls in respect of the publishing of International Herald Tribune's Indian edition.
A major portion of funds already raised is being utilised
to set up the company's new printing facilities at three locations.
|
| Railways
may end monopolistic situations for paper/magazine stalls: |
|
|
|
The
monopolistic situation enjoyed by newspaper/magazine/book
vendors at railway stations across the country will soon end.
In the railways budget presented by the railways minister
Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, it was proposed that the government
will come out with a bookstall policy to end the sole selling
rights of such distributors.
He has proposed that the new policy would provide for competition
and with a uniform tenure of five years.
For several decades now, companies like A.H.Wheeler and Higginbotham's
have been enjoying exclusive rights of selling reading material
in their respective regions.
Such companies are critical to any publication's distribution
plans and are known to have dictated their terms to publishers
across the country.
|
| Getit
to grow from 18 to 30 cities: |
|
|
|
Getit,
the publisher of official telephone directories and yellow
pages, is getting aggressive announcing that it would spread
its presence from the current 18 cities to 30 cities across
the country in the current year itself.
In some cases currently, Getit directories have common volumes for cities located in the same region.
In the new thrust, independent volumes of the directories
and yellow pages are being planned for each of the cities.
The company seeks to provide more value with the addition
of a lot more content that would be useful for consumers and
businesses.
The company publishes about five million copies of its directories
currently and expects to increase the figure to nearly seven
million by the end of this year.
While making the annoucement, a senior company executive said
that the company has over 75,000 advertisers across the country
and 85 per cent of them were renewing their contracts every
year.
|
| India
to get first woman editor of a finance daily: |
|
|
|
Amongst
the four business and finance dailies in the country, the
Financial Express will be the first one to have a woman as
its editor.
Mythili Bhusnurmath from the rival The Economic Times is now
scheduled to join the Financial Express as its Chief Editor.
At FE, Mythili will replacing Dr Sanjaya Baru, who has now
taken over as the press advisor to the country's new prime
minister Mr Manmohan Singh.
|
| The
Hindu too takes a step offshore: |
|
|
The publishers of The Hindu - the largest selling English daily in southern India - has joined the bandwagon of Indian publishers taking a step outside in the international publishing market.
The owning company, Kasturi and Sons Ltd, is reportedly
in talks with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to bring out
an exclusive English supplement along with Singapore's Tamil
daily, Tamil Murasu.
The supplement will carry news and other content related
to India that will be generated by The Hindu, according
a report published by an Indian media portal.
Tamil Murasu, in print since 1935, is an important information
source for the Tamil-speaking Indian community in Singapore,
with its coverage of wide-ranging news, from current affairs
to local and foreign news as well as the latest in sports
and entertainment.
|
