The Economist eyes Indian edition

MEDIA: The magazine hopes to ramp up its advertising and circulation figures in the country.

If the Indian government eases the regulations for foreign publications with regard to advertising, The Economist, which sells 1.3 million copies worldwide, may soon be printed in India.

Says Tim Pinnegar, publisher, The Economist, Asia-Pacific: "The rules have been there for a while and it's not a bad idea to review them. So, we're hoping to get a discussion going with the Indian government."

Currently, foreign publications printed in India are barred from accepting India-specific advertising. While such advertising may account for just about 15 per cent of the total advertising revenues of $3 million that The Economist mopped up in 2007 from India, Pinnegar believes they could double in the next couple of years.

"Suddenly, it may not be such a small number," he points out. Sure enough, if the magazine manages to pull in the $4 million worth of advertising that it's hoping to do in 2008, the numbers will begin to look bigger.

The gameplan is to increase the India circulation to 80,000 copies a week in about two to three years. That would make India the second or third largest market for the magazine, assuming other markets don't grow faster.

To get going a new campaign is being launched exclusively for the Indian market. At Rs 200 a copy, The Economist, owned in part by the Pearson group and partly by some families and institutions, sells 19,000 copies a week.

At these numbers, the business in India just about breaks even since the cost of flying in the copies from Singapore, where they are printed, is fairly high. That's one reason the magazine is keen to set up shop in the country.

Pinnegar says The Economist's production director will be in India next week to initiate discussions with printers. "Printing in India means our subscribers can get their copies earlier," he explains. However, the magazine will not print here unless the rules on advertising change.

Pinnegar isn't too concerned that magazines like Fortune and Forbes will soon be published here.

"Advertisers are driven by an audience and environment and our audience is as strong, if not stronger than those of other publications," he asserts.

Besides, he believes Indian readers want to read about the rest of the world because content on India is already available in plenty.