‘Globally relevant & quality content, a challenge for business book publishing in India'

A firm believer in the strength of the printed word, Mr Vinay Hebbar, Managing Director, Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), India, feels e-books will not completely cannibalise the print segment in India. Instead, they will serve to widen the overall market for publishers.

Mr Hebbar, who has been associated with HBP India since its inception in 2009, talked to Business Line on the business of books, the potential of Indian markets and the challenges facing the business segment. Excerpts:

How big is the global market for business books and what is India's share ?

In India, the business books market, which includes only non-academic management, business and economic books, is estimated at Rs 80 crore annually. Globally, it is a huge market, but India accounts for roughly 3 per cent or so of it.

What is the average year-on-year growth of the business books market?

Business books are the second fastest growing segment in India after children's books. The market growth can be skewed by a few titles such as the Steve Jobs' biography, but on a secular basis, we estimate that the business segment is growing at approximately 15 per cent year-on-year.

What is your business share, and how fast is it growing?

As per our estimates, Harvard Business Publishing accounts for 14-15 per cent of the Indian market in this segment. India accounts for less than 5 per cent of our global turnover. Our press itself has grown 300 per cent since we set up shop in India in 2009.

Where is the growth coming from? What is the most popular genre for business books?

The market growth is driven by self- help books, management insights and best practices tips.

Biographies have always been an important sub-segment. In fact, Steve Jobs' biography was the largest selling book for 2011. For HBR Press, leadership books and ideas with long-term impact in areas such as innovation, strategy, people management and change are driving growth.

What is the global share of India-sourced content annually?

I estimate that in India, sourced content accounts for less than one per cent of this segment globally, as very few ideas from India have managed to travel abroad.

This is, however, going to change as more thought leaders from India write and global publishers, including us, seek to source more ideas from emerging markets, such as India. For instance, Vineet Nayar's ‘Employees First, Customer Second' is a bestseller in India and has done well globally too. Of late, Indian authors published by global publishers have started making a mark internationally in terms of appeal and visibility.

How are the dynamics of the market changing? Is there any new trend that you see?

The appetite for business books is growing enormously in India. The demographic profile of India and the rapidly growing managerial workforce favour growth. The other important trend that we see is the advent of online book retailers, such as Flipkart, Infibeam and soon, Amazon. They have brought books to the finger tips of consumers.

What had been plaguing India so far was distribution hiccups and poor availability of books, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. This constraint is largely mitigated by online retailing.

The other big trend is the emergence of e-books. In India, the e-book market, which is still at a nascent phase, is slated to take off.

With growing access to tablets, e-readers and smartphones, combined with good broadband speed and wi-fi accessibility, the publishing scene will soon evolve to accommodate digital content.

Indian publishers are also following their global peers in converting their content to e-books format. Online retailers in India would soon be in a position to distribute e-books at competitive prices.

Finally, what are the challenges for business book publishing in India?

The major challenge with business book publishing in India is the limited availability of quality content that has global relevance, is research-based and oriented for management practitioners. Also, at present, the distribution structure for books in India is largely informal, discount-centric and inefficient.