Penguin bullish on India

Penguin India's Indian language publications might go on to be a significant part of its publishing business here, said the global head of the business. India was the first location where the publisher brought out books in languages other than English.

John Makinson, chairman and chief executive of the Penguin Group, indicated that Indian language publications could go on to be a big business for Penguin's business in India. This year, the group published about 180 titles in English and about 70 titles in Indian languages.

Makinson was in Chennai recently to deliver a lecture on the occasion of the first anniversary of Pearson Education's Chennai publishing programme. Penguin is a part of the Pearson Group that is engaged in bringing out textbooks globally.

An important strand of Pearson's India strategy is to create more content for school education boards that are affiliated to different state boards, and also All-India boards. Some of Pearson's text books have already been adopted by schools affiliated to the school board under the purview of Tamil Nadu government.

Pearson has also identified higher education as an important area of its business.

Text books are being tailored to increase their relevance to the local market.

Subroto Mozumdar, president of Pearson Education in India, pointed out that Philip Kotler, whose books on marketing are prescribed reading in Indian institutions, is involved in incorporating Indian case studies into his books.