National Book Trust, India organized New Delhi Rights Table at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Photo IPP
As a part of the New Delhi World Book Fair, the National Book Trust, India had organized the New Delhi Rights Table on 07-08 January. This two-day event was organized to promote Indian books abroad and to facilitate business interactions to buy and sell translation rights between Indian and foreign publishers. During the event, publishers from India, the US, UAE, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, France and many other countries participated for B2B meeting. The well-organized event was open for the registered participants. The entry was absolutely free for foreign publishers.
The New Delhi Rights Table provided an unique opportunity for publishers from across the world to meet each other on a one-to-one basis to tentatively finalize their interest and agreements for transfer of translation rights available in English, Hindi and other Indian languages. Around 62 people from various publication houses participated in the event. With the ongoing construction work at the Pragati Maidan, organizers were expecting less participants but the numbers exceeded their expectation.
All the participants had to bring a copy of the book available for translation rights sale along with a brief write-up on the book and author in English. All the agreements signed during the New Delhi Rights Table for translation of Indian books into foreign languages were considered for NBT’s financial assistance program subject to meeting.
Binny Kurian, rights translation and acquisition officer, National Book Trust, India said, “It is the opportunity for publishers to meet and discuss rights between the countries and to broaden their business opportunities abroad. The event went well. There are many publishers who do not have their stands at the fair, and only come to participate in the New Delhi Rights Table.”
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
