FICCI Business Lunch Session at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012

INDIA: THE OPPORTUNE MOMENTFICCI Business Lunch Session at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012

Venue : Halle 4.C, Room "Entente"

Date   : October 12, 2012

Time   : 1245 – 1400 hrs

This year, Indian publishers confidently took their place in Hall 8 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, asserting their right to be recognised as one of the world’s leading English language publishers. With an estimated market size of INR 12,000 crores (USD 2 billion approx) India exceeds the individual output of Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Canada. India publishes not only in English but in 21 other languages, many of which have markets much larger than the English. Indeed, India is one of the few book markets in the world that is not saturated and where both print and electronic publishing are proceeding apace.

With a view to showcase India publishing business to the world FICCI organised “Indian: the Opportune Moment” at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012. The business lunch session brought together experts from the Indian publishing industry to talk about the publishing ecosystem and markets in India, to look at the history of joint ventures and fully foreign owned companies, to detail the existence of small and independent publishers, to describe the many different sectors (educational, STM, reference and so on), and to answer questions about the rewards and difficulties of publishing in India.

This was a novel initiative of FICCI which featured on the main agenda of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012. The session was a huge success. The event was attended by Shri Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Consul General of India, among other renowned dignitaries. Delegates who attended the programme included publishers, editors, rights and licence experts, marketing and sales managers, book fair organisers, and trade and translation experts. About one-third of the delegates were publishers from Europe and the USA.

Mr. Sumeet Gupta, Director, FICCI welcomed the delegates and gave the outline of the FICCI Publishing Committee. Mr. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Consul General of India, appreciated the need for such a platform. Chairperson of FICCI Publishing Committee, Ms. Urvashi Butalia, set the tone by giving an overall picture of publishing in the Indian scenario. The presentations were focused on different markets for publishing in India. Mr. Himanshu Gupta (Co-Chair, FICCI Publishing Committee and Joint Mg Director, S. Chand Group), gave the overall picture of the higher academic publishing in India; while Ms. Karthika (Publisher, Harper Collins Publishers India), concentrated on markets for rights in India. Mr. Ananth Padmanabham (Vice President, Penguin Books India), provided the perspective of trade books in India and its market. Mr. Kailash Balani’s (Mg Director, Balani Infotech) area of focus was e-books and its potential. Mr. Prem Prakash (Associate Vice President, Handygo Technologies) shared his perspective on how the digital era of book reading has compelled publishers to evolve a new business model for end users. The session was concluded by Mr. Sumeet Gupta, Director, FICCI.