India's federal information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi has promised "spring" time to publishers in India, saying that his ministry would announced policy reforms in January, 2008.

Inaugurating the Indian Magazine Congress at Mumbai on October 8, Mr Dasmunshi said spring is not far behind if there was winter now. He made the announcement about the policy reforms in response to questions raised relating to the delays in title clearance from Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI) as well as approvals of foreign direct investment in India's print publishing sector.

He said India's economy and democracy were robust enough and he did not worry about international views (editorial content) influencing the mindsets of the local population.

The Indian Magazine Congress, organized by the Association of Indian Magazines (AIM), was held in Mumbai for the first time.

Next Gen Publishing, jointly owned by the Forbes Group, Emap and HDFC, will launch its men's magazine 'For Him Magazine' (FHM) in India by mid-October this year. FHM is currently being published in 24 languages in 31 editions across 43 countries.

The magazine content would include information about glamorous women, adventure, style, fitness, entertainment, cars and new technology, with an approach that is both intelligent and sometimes homourous.

According to Next Gen Publishing, CEO, Hoshang Billimoria, FHM is a niche magazine that is targeted at men who are intelligent, classy, techno savvy, socially aware and enjoy sports.

IfraExpo 2007, an international exhibition on trends and practices in the printing and publishing industry, was held in Chennai from September 4 to September 6.

Organised by Ifra India and co-sponsored by the Indian Newspaper Society, it is for the first time that the expo was held outside Europe. Two parallel learning seminars and an expo were held at the IfraExpo 2007.

Around 100 leading suppliers to the newspaper and the media industry participated at the expo and at the same time over 600 delegates participated in IfraIndia 2007, the fifteenth annual conference.

Inaugurated by Ofra (Germany) CEO Reiner Mittelbach and Schibsted (Norway) president and CEO, Kejell Aamot, the event was aimed at senior level executives and key decision makers in the publishing industry.

The Indian information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi has announced a special Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) advertisement policy package for small and medium newspapers in regional and other languages.

The new DAVP policy is focussed at increasing support through DAVP to newspapers in languages like Bodo, Dogri, Kashmiri, Khasi, Konkani, Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Urdu and tribal language newspapers published in Jammu and Kashmir, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and North Eastern states as well as those published in backward, hilly, border and remote areas.

The special package includes:

1. Issue of 50 per cent of DAVP advertisements (in rupee terms) to small and medium papers with not less than 15 per cent to small and not less than 35 per cent to medium newspapers as compared to the existing limit of 10 per cent respectively.

2. Issue of 35 per cent of DAVP advertisements (in rupee terms) to regional and other languages newspapers as compared to the existing limit of 30 per cent.

3. The government public sector undertakings/autonomous bodies/societies have been given the freedom to directly give classified and display advertisements to empanelled newspapers at DAVP rates subject to adherence to prescribed percentage ceiling as laid down in the new DAVP advertisement policy.

4. All ministries/departments/attached and subordinate offices/field offices of the Government of India, may issue tender notices directly to the empanelled newspapers at DAVP rates.

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) elected its new body for 2007-08 at its annual general meeting held in Bangalore. Gujarat Samachar managing director and editor Bahubali Shah was elected as the body's new president. He replaced Mumbai Samachar's Hormusji Nusserwanji Cama. Delhi Press' Paresh Nath has replaced Bahubali Shah as the body's deputy president.

The election process for the 50-member committee also concluded, with 45 members elected to the body. The remaining five members would soon be appointed.

Maheshwar Peri of the Outlook Group has been elected as the new president of Association of Indian Magazines (AIM). The new vice president of the body is Pradeep Gupta, managing director of Cyber Media.

Mr Peri and Mr Gupta have announced that their first task was to initiate a survey of the Indian magazine marketplace.

Their election happened during the association's annual general body meeting held in Mumbai.

The Statesman has closed down its afternoon edition from September 1.

According to The Statesman Ltd. editor and managing director Ravindra Kumar, the afternoon edition has been shut down, so that the daily can focus its attention, energies and human resources towards strengthening its flagship product, The Statesman.

The Statesman Afternoon Edition was launched in mid-2002.

* Paprika Media to launch TimeOut's Bangalore edition
Paprika Media Pvt Ltd has plans to launch another edition of its fortnightly magazine, TimeOut in Bangalore by February 2008. Essar Group's media arm, Paprika, also has plans to launch satellite editions of TimeOut for Goa, Pune, Jaipur and Chandigarh shortly. It is currently published from Mumbai and New Delhi.

* German auto magazine Auto Bild to make its debut in India
Axel Springer AG's auto magazine 'Auto Bild' will soon make its debut in India in association with the India Today Group. The magazine is expected to be launched in India within a couple of months. The new magazine enters an already cluttered market, which has other titles like as 'Top Gear', 'Autocar India', 'Overdrive', 'Car India' and 'Bike India'.

* Outlook to launch a fortnightly on stock market
Outlook Group plans to launch a fortnightly magazine on the stock market. The group has yet not decided on the name of the fortnightly, which may be launched by early 2008.

* Cyber Media launches entrepreneur magazine DARE
Cyber Media plans has launched its entrepreneur magazine 'DARE'. The first issue of the monthly magazine will be priced at Rs 30. According to Cyber Media chairman and managing director Pradeep Gupta, the magazine is targeted at four types of entrepreneurs, the ones who already exist and want to take their company to the global level, new entrepreneurs, existing entrepreneurs and others in the entrepreneur system like banks, venture capitalist, angel funding, etc.

* Images to launch its magazine GO magazine for young professionals
The Images Group will launch its international title, 'GO', targeted at young professionals, in October. GO is being brought to India through a licensing arrangement with the magazine's founder Chris Fodor. This would be the group's second international magazine, the first one being 'Progressive Grocer'.

* Divya Bhaskar launches a Gujarati afternoon daily DB Gold
Divya Bhaskar has launched a Gujarati afternoon daily, 'DB Gold', in Surat. The tabloid is targeted at industrialists, traders and businessmen.

* Bhaskar Group to launch its career magazine Lakshya
The Bhaskar Group will soon launch its career magazine, 'Lakshya', for students as well as professionals. The magazine aims to provide useful guidance to students as well young professionals on how to build their careers.

* NaiDunia to launches its Jabalpur edition
Hindi daily NaiDunia, has launched its sixth edition in Jabalpur on September 24. NaiDunia director Vineet Sethia said that NaiDunia would now have 100 per cent geographical presence across Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

* Jagran Prakashan launches its Meerut edition of I-next
Jagran Prakashan Ltd has launched the Meerut edition of its compact daily I-next on September 24. This is the daily's third launch within nine months, the first one being from Kanpur.

* Azure Media launches city magazine in Bangalore
Azure Media Publications Pvt. Ltd, the publishing arm of Jupiter Entertainment Ventures, has launched a city-based magazine 'The Bengaluru Pages' in Bangalore.

* DNA to launch its Gujarat edition
Diligent Media, which owns and publishes the daily, DNA, plans to launch its Gujarat edition shortly. The daily also plans to revamp its complimentary DNA Me, which was being distributed in Mumbai during Sundays, and make it available across India as a national brand.

* Tehelka relaunches its newspaper as a weekly magazine
Tehelka, newspaper known for its investigative journalism, has been relaunched as a weekly magazine. The magazine will be available at Rs 20. According to Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, the purpose of changing the format of Tehelka is to increase its "shelf life".

* The Tribune launches its Haryana edition
The Tribune launched its Haryana edition on September 14. It is the English daily's fifth edition the other ones being its Chandigarh, Delhi, Jalandhar and Himachal Pradesh editions.

* Gujarati edition of Economic Times launched in Mumbai
The Gujarati (non-English language) edition of the business daily, Economic Times, has been launched in Mumbai.