The Hindu Business Line : `India could emerge as e-publishing hub'

With several global publishers such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Prentice Hall, Macmillan, and Pearson looking to India for outsourcing their e-publishing projects, the country is set to emerge as a hub, according to Mr A. Elangovan, Managing Director of Cadgraf Digitals.

He said that the Indian companies in the e-publishing space are currently working on books and journals for overseas clients."Their process is completely different from ours. They have well-defined process flow, process control and checks," he said, adding that the industry faced competition from East European countries. "It is no threat at this juncture, because Indian e-publishing houses are able to meet the clients' requirements".

"It is no threat at this juncture, because Indian e-publishing houses are able to meet the clients' requirements. While the opportunity is tremendous, the hunt is on for trained manpower. There is no formal educational institute on digital publishing. People are trained by companies."

Stating that it had taken 15 years for the industry to reach the current level, he said: "Initially we did the data entry (low-end) job. Then we moved to typesetting before working on single colour graphics. Only in the last few years have Indian companies forayed into copyediting and the orders are really heavy. One of the major concerns for the industry is getting the right, quality manpower."

According to him, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and engineers could be trained in copyediting.

Besides copy editors, artists and other professionals with a high level of colour knowledge could look for opportunities in this space.

"Creative art is another area we need to explore. We have the potential but are not tapping it properly."

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