20 November 2015, New Delhi. Mr. Baldeo Sharma, Chairman, National Book Trust, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, speaking at “PubliCon 2015” organised by FICCI, said that a new chapter has started in NBT with signing of an MoU with C-DAC/W3C which will enable NBT to act as a bridge between digital publishing technology innovators and end users like publishers. He mentioned that under the partnership, C-DAC will create standardization of Indian Language publishing. It will also enable NBT to help in getting inputs and feedback of the requirements of Indian publishers for the global community. He further highlighted that India has one of the oldest publishing ecosystems in the world. The Rig Veda is one of the first literary document in the history of humankind. Mr. Vikrant Mathur, Director – Book Practice, Nielsen India, presented some interesting statistics to prove that the Print Book Market in India has a size of INR 260.6 Billion which is double the size of the Indian film industry (INR 125.3 Billion) and 6 times the size of Music, Radio and Gaming industries, all together. He also emphasised that India rank 6th globally in Print Book Publishing and is 2nd largest English language Publishers in the World. Indian Print Book Market comprises over 9000 publishers and 21,000 retailers. Mr. Mathur said “Indian Print Book market has contributed significantly to the Indian economy by creating direct and indirect employment. The Industry has created over 40,000 direct employment with about 1.5 lakhs people working in other ancillary industries. Outsourcing of high-value publishing services such as designing, testing & assessment, and e-learning tools has created indirect employment opportunities.” Dr. Arbind Prasad, Director General, FICCI, said that Indian publishing has a lot to offer in terms of new ideas and innovative concepts. PubliCon takes forward this new vigour within the Indian publishing community, by raising issues that affects industry so that the same could be taken up appropriately with the government. Dr. Prasad stated that with 74 per cent literacy rate at present, India aspires to become a 100 per cent literate nation and books will thus play a crucial role in this important endeavour. He said that we have a very vibrant ecosystem of publishing in this country. As compared to other developed and developing nations, print in India will grow at Tier II & Tier III cities which have become important centers for consumption of print material. Mr. Rohit Kumar, Co- Chair FICCI Publishing Committee and Advisor, Reed Elsevier India, said that price of books in India is lowest in the world which could be one of the reasons behind the diminishing value of the sector. We need to think of the right value of books. He also mentioned that publishers in India are dedicated to spread knowledge more than merely doing business
Print Book Market Double then Film Industry : Publicon2015
