Wednesday, February 08, 2006
India opens door just a crack for foreign papers
By Surojit Gupta
India may soon allow foreign newspapers to print their foreign editions locally according to a government official, opening the way for a jump in readership and sales in the rapidly growing market.
The proposal, to go before cabinet soon, would relax the tightly controlled market in the world's second most populous nation, where foreign papers now are imported, arrive a day late and sell for about 100 times the cover price of local dailies. But the Information and Broadcasting official said there was no plan to let foreign publishers print local editions here.
Major foreign publishers including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Financial Times are eyeing the lucrative Indian market, with its rapid economic growth, liberalization and booming consumer spending.
In 2002 the government scrapped a half-century ban to allow foreign firms to buy up to 26% in news publications and 74% in non-news titles.
The latest proposal would mean overseas publishers could print their overseas editions in India, reducing costs, but could not change any of the news or advertising content.
The government set up a panel to look at the issue after the Paris-based International Herald Tribune began printing in India through local partners, a move seen by some local media groups and political parties as an effort to sidestep the controls. It has since stopped.
OUTPACING TV- Even while publishers struggle against new competition overseas, India's newspapers are outpacing rival local media with advertising revenue growing faster for print than television in the year to end-March for the first time in years.
Print advertising grew 15% in 2004 to 54 billion rupees, beating television's 13% rise. Print makes up 46% of the ad market, and TV 41%. The Indian Readership Survey estimates there are 161 million newspaper readers in a country of more than a billion people.
Henderson Private Capital's Asia Fund, which manages $210 million, has invested $26 million in the Hindustan Times, partly to fund its foray into radio, and now owns more than 15%. Last June, Pearson Plc's Financial Times paid $3 million for almost 14% of Business Standard, the number two business daily. Dow Jones tied up with Bennett Coleman & Co., publisher of The Times of India, the world's top-selling daily English-language broadsheet with a circulation of 2.4 million. In December, Ireland's Independent News and Media Plc paid 25.5 million euros ($34 million) for 26 percent of Jagran Prakashan, a Hindi-language daily publisher and television broadcaster.
The official said there were no plans to change the 26% cap on foreign investment in India's news publications.
India may soon allow foreign newspapers to print their foreign editions locally according to a government official, opening the way for a jump in readership and sales in the rapidly growing market.
The proposal, to go before cabinet soon, would relax the tightly controlled market in the world's second most populous nation, where foreign papers now are imported, arrive a day late and sell for about 100 times the cover price of local dailies. But the Information and Broadcasting official said there was no plan to let foreign publishers print local editions here.
Major foreign publishers including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Financial Times are eyeing the lucrative Indian market, with its rapid economic growth, liberalization and booming consumer spending.
In 2002 the government scrapped a half-century ban to allow foreign firms to buy up to 26% in news publications and 74% in non-news titles.
The latest proposal would mean overseas publishers could print their overseas editions in India, reducing costs, but could not change any of the news or advertising content.
The government set up a panel to look at the issue after the Paris-based International Herald Tribune began printing in India through local partners, a move seen by some local media groups and political parties as an effort to sidestep the controls. It has since stopped.
OUTPACING TV- Even while publishers struggle against new competition overseas, India's newspapers are outpacing rival local media with advertising revenue growing faster for print than television in the year to end-March for the first time in years.
Print advertising grew 15% in 2004 to 54 billion rupees, beating television's 13% rise. Print makes up 46% of the ad market, and TV 41%. The Indian Readership Survey estimates there are 161 million newspaper readers in a country of more than a billion people.
Henderson Private Capital's Asia Fund, which manages $210 million, has invested $26 million in the Hindustan Times, partly to fund its foray into radio, and now owns more than 15%. Last June, Pearson Plc's Financial Times paid $3 million for almost 14% of Business Standard, the number two business daily. Dow Jones tied up with Bennett Coleman & Co., publisher of The Times of India, the world's top-selling daily English-language broadsheet with a circulation of 2.4 million. In December, Ireland's Independent News and Media Plc paid 25.5 million euros ($34 million) for 26 percent of Jagran Prakashan, a Hindi-language daily publisher and television broadcaster.
The official said there were no plans to change the 26% cap on foreign investment in India's news publications.
# posted by mediabhartiwebsolutions @ 12:07 AM 
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