Macmillan to expand India operations

This expansion, according to the company, is a key part of the company's global strategy to become a major supplier of books and major references typesetting.

In addition to the expansion, Macmillan within a few months is expected to bring in its Nature Publishing Group (NPG) to India. NPG is a division of Macmillan Publishers, dedicated to serving the academic and professional scientific community.

The centre currently employs close to 200 professionals and Macmillan intends to add another 100 by end of this year and then another 200 by next year. With this expansion, the company expects to generate revenue of around Rs 16 crore by 2006 from the division.

Said Richard Charkin, CEO, Macmillan UK: "Macmillan has been in India for over 100 years now and our investment in this unit marks a significant next stage in this long and successful association. The Bangalore operation will rapidly become a global centre of excellence for Macmillan, playing a key role in providing new and additional world class services for our customers."

Added Rajiv Beri, MD, Macmillan India: "Information processing division of Macmillan was set up in 1977 and since then we have been among the leading supplier of typesetting, data and information processing. In an indirect way we were already outsourcing from India 28 years ago, even before Bangalore became the well established centre in offshoring."

Commenting on expanding its offerings to Indian market, Charkin said NPG is among the initiatives being planned to cater to huge scientific audience in India.

"We are working out details about launching NPG in India and should be a reality in a few months time," he noted.

Macmillan India, in which the parent holds around 60 per cent stake, gets around 75 per cent of its revenues from third party publishing while the remaining is from in-house work.