Current Scenario of ePublishing Industry & Services in India

Download Report on ePublishing Industry in India

ePublishing in simple terms means, digitizing information which is otherwise available in print format and storing it in electronic or digital form. The industry has witnessed growth on account of benefits such as low cost of production, low investments, low inventory storage costs and the opportunity to reach a global audience in a cost effective manner. According to a Value Notes report “Offshoring in the Publishing Vertical – 2009”, the industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 35% and reach an estimated value of US $1.2 billion by 2012 thereby employing almost 74,000 people.

Scope of Growth for the ePublishing Industry in India

Going by tradition, the older generation specifically, is more accustomed to turning the pages of a book. However, the newer generations, with increased access to sources of digital information and natural acclimatization to its use will be more open to embrace digital content.

Although scale of usage and revenue generated by the ePublishing industry is still way below its print counterpart, the scope has evolved over the years, especially with the emergence of digital and online media. The ePublishing models can be broadly classified as Online publishing, comprising of internet, intranet and extranet for content delivery and Offline publishing such as, CD Roms, DVDs and Memory cards. Apart from this, a very vital channel which can catapult the industry into a higher trajectory is the development and adoption of eBook readers. Though existing eBook reader such as Amazon’s Kindle has failed to live up to the expectation of “ease of reading” and access to seemingly unending content, partly because of publishers’ lack of willingness to share content and concern for Copyright and Digital Rights Management issues, which is a global phenomenon, newer gadgets to enter the market such as Apple’s iPad, touted for its low price tag and ease of use, has already shaken up the Japanese print industry. India too now has its own eBook reader launched by Infibeam, called Pi. Infibeam is an online bookstore with more than 4 million books and over 100,000 eBooks.

Indian ePublishers at present primarily cater to academic, finance, Government, engineering and research sectors and is likely to broaden in scope. This is alongside business received from foreign players such as Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill, Pearson, etc. who are outsourcing ePublishing services to Indian firms.  According to the Joint Editor of Businessline, Mr. K. Venugopal, the total size of the newspaper industry alone in the US and Britain is estimated at US $75 billion. Therefore, even if a minimum of 5 percent of this value is outsourced to India that would result in a market size of US $3.5billion.

ePublishing Industry -  Advantage India: Demographic Profile

India by virtue of its size, population and diversity, is one of the major book publishing country in the world. With young English speaking skilled population base and with more than 17,000 publishing houses generating content in more than 29 regional languages, the opportunities for the publishing industry, especially ePublishing is huge.

Optimism stems from the fact that the Government of India has accorded top most priority status to education in its 11th five year plan. This initiative will have a cascading effect in terms of manifold increase in the number of academic institutions both domestic and foreign with many offering e-learning courses, increased student base and a host of activities related to content publishing.

According to CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets education sector report, the size of India's e-learning market is US $27 million and is likely to grow to US $280 million by 2012.

Industry Associations will play a Key Role in the ePublishing Industry in India

An industry association such as CII is playing a pivotal role in nurturing this industry. In the first of its kind conference held in Chennai titled ‘Sustaining India to be the publishing BPO hub of the world’, the association among suggesting other measures, has asked state governments to offer courses in ePublishing. With western publishing majors and newspaper publishers witnessing a cut in supplier networks, fall in advertising revenues and readership, there is the possibility of offshoring a chunk of these activities to India and Indian ePublishers need to move up the value chain and be poised to grasp the opportunity.

Therefore, taking cues from domestic developments and global trends vis-à-vis ePublishing, the industry is at the threshold of witnessing a paradigm shift in the way books and other content are published, circulated and read.

Other Factors that Govern the ePublishing Industry

The use of personal computers has leapfrogged over the years. According to Forrester, India will have around 157 million PC users by the year 2015.

Mobile phone usage too has grown exponentially and the charges are lowest compared to any other place in the world. Simple phones are successfully running alongside smart phones and PDAs. As per the Cellular Operators Association of India’s January 2010 figures, there are at present a total of 395.3 million users across all circles. The imminent launch of 3G services will add more diversity and punch to the service.  However, net access charges/GPRS charges are still on the higher side.

Internet usage too has kept pace with growth in the other industry drivers. Corporate usage accounts for the largest share of the pie followed by users frequenting internet cafes and home users.

Source: Internet World Stats; Internet usage and population statistics

Computer Aided Design has witnessed an increased synergy with publishing, with academic institutions preferring the use of 3D in development of eCourseware and eManuals. According to a CAD report published by EON Reality News, 3D publishing will increase over the next 4 to 5 years to touch almost 200 million end users.

Source: EON Reality News/JPR Special Report - The 2008 CAD Report

Drivers of the ePublishing industry in India

• Government initiatives to facilitate rapid development of the sector
• Increase in broadband penetration
• Increased PE/VC interests in the education sector
• Foreign universities offering online courses
• Private schools adopting hybrid teaching methods
• Change in reading habits and increase in per capita reading hours
• Consistent domestic economic growth

To download the complete report on “ePublishing & eBooks – An Indian Perspective”, please follow the link: http://www.india-reports.com/summary/Publish.aspx

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