Cambridge Press bets on low priced academic books

Indians place a premium on higher education. For a leading textbook publisher such as Cambridge University Press, India is the third largest market after the US and China.

Realising these factors well, Cambridge University Press is betting on low priced paperback academic books to strengthen its business in India.

Addressing mediapersons at the launch of Cambridge centre in Chennai, Stephen Bourne, chief executive of Cambridge University Press, said that the publisher was looking at increasing its paperback editions of academic books as Indian students focus on serious university education compared to other countries.

"We are aware that we cannot sell academic books of medicine, engineering, etc at the same price as in the US or UK and therefore, we have to make it affordable for Indian students to purchase them by having paperback editions," Bourne said.

Price is a crucial factor. If prices are high, it will automatically lead to pirated copies in the form of photocopies and the like, which can be curtailed by low priced paperback editions.

Bourne pointed out that the Cambridge University Press has slowly moved all its typesetting to India from UK in the last eight years, realising the advantage of cheaper labour here.

These typesetting centres have been established at Bangalore, Pune, Pondicherry and Delhi. The Cambridge University Press has its presence in the country in six locations, namely Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

The Cambridge centre in Chennai will house three departments of the University of Cambridge, namely Cambridge University Press, Cambridge International Examinations and Cambridge English for speakers of other languages.

Cambridge University Press has tied up with Foundation Books India and contribute almost 70 per cent of the latter's turnover of Rs 25 crore.