In another policy relaxation, the Indian government has now allowed 100 per cent foreign ownership of Indian "facsimile" editions of foreign news publications. The other related existing policy is about FDI in Indian editions of foreign news publications. The FDI cap in such publications is currently pegged at 26 per cent.

The "annual" meet of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and World Editors Forum (WEF), scheduled to be held in Hyderabad, India from March 22-25, has been "postponed". The organisers cited "economic slowdown" as a reason for the postponement. As against a normal delegate registration of 1,500, this year's event saw just about 250 registrations till the time the organisers decided to postpone to event. It is now expected to be scheduled in November, 2009.

HT Media Ltd, with interests in newspapers, magazines, radio, Internet and television, has registered a huge fall of 79 per cent in its profits, while reporting a higher revenue by five per cent in the third quarter of the current financial year. Compared to the previous year's third quarter, the latest quarter shows profit going down from Rs 369 million to Rs 78 million and revenues going up from Rs 3,219 million to Rs 3,371 million.

Quarterly profits of another large publisher in the country, Jagran Prakashan Ltd, have gone down significantly. For the third quarter ending December 31, 2008, the company has reported a fall of 40.54 per cent in its profit from Rs 259.2 million to Rs 154.6 million, while revenues moved up by 3.34 per cent from Rs 2,046 million to 2,115 million.

B2B and niche magazine publisher Cyber Media India Ltd's revenues and profits have risen, owing to greater contribution from its media services outsourcing division. Media service revenues rose from 34 per cent to 49 per cent of the total revenues of the company. The net profit for the last quarter rose from Rs 66.6 million to Rs 228 million. Revenues rose from Rs 292.9 million to Rs 294.5 million. Print ads' share in revenues came down from 49 to 39 per cent.

Reflecting the trend of the day, 'Metro Now' daily has become a weekly. 'Metro Now' is a publication of Metropolitan Media - a 50:50 joint venture between Bennett, Coleman & Co. (Times of India group) and HT Media Ltd.

Falling profit margins have not intimidated Jagran Publications Ltd from launching the Pune city edition of its weekly 'City Plus' city guide. The initial print run of the magazine was claimed to be 35,000 copies.

* Sunday NaiDuniya - a weekly newspaper-cum-magazine offering - was launched from seven state capitals in the country in January. * Recently launched media company, RPG Publications, plans to launch news and current affairs magazine 'Open' in March. * Hindi newspaper 'Hindustan' saw the launch of its Allahabad edition in January. * Marathi language newspaper Pudhari will soon have two more editions in Maharashtra from Mumbai and Aurangabad.

Huge falls in profits and marginal rise in incomes! Are these effects of economic slowdown or "creative accounting"?

At the other end, hope continues to survive and make several other publishers launch newer publications - adding to the competition that is already existing in the market.

In the meantime, more reports of publishers, asking their senior executives to take pay-cuts or to leave, are creeping in. One senior celebrity journalist on entertainment industry "resigned" in a not-so-cordial 'parting of ways' in January.

The timing gets better for consolidion / M&A activity in Indian publishing sector.

- Bhupesh Trivedi
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