The Hindu Business Line : Macmillan plans extra thrust to Web-learning

MACMILLAN India Ltd is planning an additional thrust to its Web-learning business. Mr Rajiv Beri told Business Line here that the company was gearing up to provide Web-support to its school textbooks.

"To begin with, Web support would be linked to our English text books meant for CBSE and ICSE. However, the programmes, which are being designed now, will be put up on the Net in 2005."

He said it would be extended to other subjects such as science and maths later. For the teachers, specialised workshops on English Language Teaching (ELT) programmes, would be the preferred method of delivery.

The company has planned a capital expenditure of around Rs 10 crore for a set of expansions including the Web-support in 2005. This is over and above the average yearly capital expenditure of Rs 7-8 crore. "These expenditures, however, do not entail additional manpower costs," Mr Beri explained.

The company is also transforming the growing e-learning business - called E-Macmillan — into a special business unit. The exercise would be completed this calendar year (the company follows the calendar year). E-Macmillan already covers ELT curriculum as also some management/economics learning programmes.

Under this umbrella, the company is running a management development programme. It has a tie-up arrangement with IIM Kolkata. Macmillan's Web-learning programmes also cater to foreign publishers. "As of now, we have 10 such publisher clients. It has a strong potential for growth. Considering the overall potential, we are upgrading this into a new business unit," Mr Beri explained.

Macmillan, over the last couple of years, has been pursuing a strategy to scale up business through IT-enabled services. "The BPO business, which now accounts for nearly 60 per cent of its turnover is operative in two fields — back-end processing for the overseas publishers, which includes typesetting to screening graphics, and designing advertisements for foreign Yellow Page directories. We have so far done more than six-lakh pages of typesetting for overseas journals, mainly scientific ones."

As the two BPO businesses are rapidly growing, the company plans to recruit 200 people for the back-end processing activity and another 150 for Yellow Page work.

It is also seeking to expand business volumes through different State education boards. "We are publishing textbooks for Maharashtra and Gujarat secondary education boards in the respective regional languages. We are looking into the possibilities of having an arrangement with the West Bengal board. We feel the schools at the State-level boards should have a choice to select our books, which would be available at a cheaper rate, cross-subsidised by us."

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