Educational Publishing Industry in near future

Educational Publishing Industry in near future
on Nov 14, 2019

In Nielsen Report (2016), India is the sixth largest publisher in the world overall, and the second largest publisher in the world for English-language books. Led by educational books, publishing is a $6.76 billion sector expected to grow at an astounding 19.3% until 2020. Academic publishing industry shares a huge market in the Indian publishing industry. In this competitive world, there is a cutthroat competition between the school, colleges and other educational institutes to provide the best results. Medical, engineering, law, UPSC and every other field require a great amount of knowledge which comes from the best books. Indian academic publishing industry also attracted the international publishers to plant their business in Indian publishing industry. There were government-approved and high-quality publishers of textbooks, or there were publications out to make money. The latter were small unregistered companies that did not follow quality guidelines for content or production. Their aim was to produce cheaply, quickly and focus on a small local market. These publishers would not apply for an ISBN number because their market did not require it. ISBN number is usually a good metric to calculate how many books are being published in a country but since so many books have been published without one, therefore there is no clear idea of the size of the industry. The entry of the international publishing companies into the Indian academic print industry changed that. These publishers are thorough and organized. They follow international best practices which includes proper paperwork and proper panel reviews. Because their content and quality are superior to the locally produced books, they provide tough competition to the local publishers. The chances are that Indian academic publishing industry will get more organized as the smaller publishing companies that were operating under the radar will need to clean up their act considering the current war against black money that the government is waging. With India opening its doors to international corporations, these power players have established a presence. There are the chances that either the international publishers will consume the Indian publishers, or the Indian publishers will provide a better competition. Whatever will be the case, one thing is clear that Indian academic publishing industry will become more organized and therefore more transparent.