Publishing gains currency
On the face of it thin crowds at the world book fair underway in Delhi would point to a dampener in sales. Nothing could be far from the truth as far as the publishing industry in India is concerned. . The 3000 crore Indian publishing industry is thriving.
Three factors are driving the growth of publishing in India. The first is the retail revolution some of the stores such as landmark and Oxford have sprawling bookshops in access of 10,000 square feet. This was unheard of in India even three years ago. The footfall is at the malls and the bookshops and only the die-hard bookworm or the industry associate needs to make the trip to the book fair.
The second important driver is the rise in literacy in India. It is estimated that 200 million Indian have access to books in at least one language. A Ficci Pwc study showed that book readership grew at an average of 20 per cent per year since 2000.
The third driver is outsourcing. The global out sourcing market for book publishing is $2.5 billion. India accounts for a minuscule percentage bit the growth are robust. The labor arbitrage is obvious - it costs 50 % less to design typeset and print books in India when compared to the west. . However the industry is unable to fully leverage the biggest opportunity. For one thing the tariffs on paper are prohibitive making the industry uncompetitive for large-scale projects. Compared to India the free port of Singapore offset much higher labor costs by having a tariff structure that has made it a global publishing hub.
The book industry is also hampered by poor distribution as well as inventory management techniques. The time for books gathering dust on the shelf are coming to an end in the retail chain. If the publishing industry shapes up it can ship out a large volume of books though the off shoring model.
To fully employ the opportunity the publishing industry will need to introduce automation and bring to book lacuna such as inventory miss management and distribution hiccups. Not doing so could result in India loosing out to other countries in this segment.
On the face of it thin crowds at the world book fair underway in Delhi would point to a dampener in sales. Nothing could be far from the truth as far as the publishing industry in India is concerned. . The 3000 crore Indian publishing industry is thriving.
Three factors are driving the growth of publishing in India. The first is the retail revolution some of the stores such as landmark and Oxford have sprawling bookshops in access of 10,000 square feet. This was unheard of in India even three years ago. The footfall is at the malls and the bookshops and only the die-hard bookworm or the industry associate needs to make the trip to the book fair.
The second important driver is the rise in literacy in India. It is estimated that 200 million Indian have access to books in at least one language. A Ficci Pwc study showed that book readership grew at an average of 20 per cent per year since 2000.
The third driver is outsourcing. The global out sourcing market for book publishing is $2.5 billion. India accounts for a minuscule percentage bit the growth are robust. The labor arbitrage is obvious - it costs 50 % less to design typeset and print books in India when compared to the west. . However the industry is unable to fully leverage the biggest opportunity. For one thing the tariffs on paper are prohibitive making the industry uncompetitive for large-scale projects. Compared to India the free port of Singapore offset much higher labor costs by having a tariff structure that has made it a global publishing hub.
The book industry is also hampered by poor distribution as well as inventory management techniques. The time for books gathering dust on the shelf are coming to an end in the retail chain. If the publishing industry shapes up it can ship out a large volume of books though the off shoring model.
To fully employ the opportunity the publishing industry will need to introduce automation and bring to book lacuna such as inventory miss management and distribution hiccups. Not doing so could result in India loosing out to other countries in this segment.
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