Publishers from UAE, Netherlands get FIPB nod

Publishers from the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have got the approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for launching Indian editions of foreign publications like lifestyle and technical magazines through their local partners.

Both lifestyle and technical publications are allowed up to 100 per cent foreign investments, according to the norms laid out by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B).

The Al-Abbas group of the UAE, through its publishing arm, Twenty First Century Publishing, will be the 50:50 joint venture partner of Bangalore-based Connoisseur Publishing.

Connoisseur India will look at publishing and marketing print products related to culture, history, music, fashion and other social issues. The Al-Abbas group publishes one of the UAE's leading lifestyle magazines called Gulf Connoisseur.

Connoisseur India is promoted by a UAE-based journalist Meenakshi Narayan. Initially, an approval of Rs 1 lakh has been sought from FIPB in the publishing joint venture, but Connoisseur India intends to infuse an additional amount of Rs 35 lakh, the company informed FIPB.

Another international publisher Reed Elsevier Overseas from the Netherlands also obtained the FIPB nod for publication of technical journals in India through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Reed Elsevier India.

Reed Elsevier got FIPB's nod for an infusion of Rs 5 lakh for the project, in which it will publish the Madras Law Journal, Labour Law Journal and the Madras Criminal Law Journal, the company told FIPB. Currently, these legal journals are available as online e-books with an annual subscription of Rs 1,500-4,000.

These are being published by LexisNexis Butterworths-Wadhwa Nagpur India, a division of Reed Elsevier. The proposals from publishers like Prithvi Prakashan, Lokmat newspapers and Dow Jones, however, were deferred at the last FIPB meeting in November.

While from Lokmat and Prthivi Prakashan sought fresh foreign investments, the Dow Jones proposal sought up to 100 per cent inflow of foreign investments in its local firm Wall Street Journal India for the purpose of publishing a facsimile edition of the Wall Street Journal in India.