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Bloomsbury is setting up a new publishing business in India, with plans to develop Indian authorship and publishing programmes. Rajiv Beri, previously m.d. of Macmillan's Indian operations, is appointed to head the venture.
In a statement, the independent publisher, which has already been operating in India for 25 years through a marketing and distribution partnership with Penguin, said it will now set up a "wholly owned business" in the country. The company will be based in Delhi and is expected to be operational by May 2012.
C.e.o. Nigel Newton said: "We are hugely enthusiastic about this new venture and are looking forward to building our presence in this growing market."
Executive director Richard Charkin said, when it came to contemplating expansion into other new territories, Bloomsbury was "taking it one at a time", having launched in Australia in January 2011.
He added the India move was "very much focused on growth", and said the team in Delhi will originally be focused on sales, publicity and marketing, "adding editors in due course". He said when it came to its existing distribution and marketing relationships in India, Bloomsbury will be discussing with the other companies, including Penguin and Palgrave Macmillan, how to go forward. He stressed the move to establish a wholly owned Bloomsbury presence in India was "nothing to do with unhappiness" with the existing relationships, only to do with being better established in the growing market.
Bloomsbury in India "will focus on exploiting the exciting growth opportunities the country offers, leveraging the strength of the group's large range, and also developing Indian authorship and publishing programmes", the publisher said. It added: "The timing is good with the Indian retail chain footprint increasing rapidly, growth of online retailers and the country's significant future e-book readership."
The move follows the publisher's launch of cricketing imprint Wisden in India in October last year through a long-term licensing deal with sports and entertainment management firm FidelisWorld.