Business India Accuses Rivals Of Unfair Practices

The battle of the countrys premier business magazines for number one slot has taken a new turn with Business India (BI) challenging the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) rules on circulation.

In a letter to its advertisers, BI has accused its competitors, Business Today (BT), Business World (BW), of subsidising the subscription fee by way of giving gifts and including in its circulation figures copies sold via other products.

In case of one, the publications subscriptions were offered free of any charge to customers who opted to purchase a totally different product, the letter says. In a scheme, BW is being offered to credit card holders.

 

Business India has said ABC rules allow to take into account circulation figure where copies have been sold directly at the normal news-stand price. These rules have been circumvented by both our competitors, the letter says.

BW which sells a bulk of its sales to credit card holders quit ABC as a large portion of their subscription base was disallowed. Their claim of being the leading brand is from outside the ambit of ABC, the BI letter points out to advertisers.

Talking to Business Standard sometime back, P Swami, managing editor, BW, had clarified: BW quit ABC as the organisations new rules excluded bulk sales exceeding 5% of a publications total net paid sales from being included in the circulation figure.

In the recent past, both BT from the Living Media stable and BW, an Ananda Bazar Patrika publication, had taken out ads in newspapers claiming to be the number one magazine. While BT quoted Audit Bureau of Circulation figures of 1,09029 during July-December, 1996, BW said their audited circulation was 1,12971 during the same period. Business Indias circulation for the corresponding period was put at 1,00,686.

Interestingly, while BW resigned from ABC sometime back, BT during its initial years of existence was never part of the ABC the organisation whose figures it is flaunting now to claim the number one slot.

BI alleges that BT resorted to dual pricing one price for its news-stand customers and another for subscribers. The copies mailed to subscribers carried a different, much dearer, price compared to the news-stand in violation of the ABC rules, the letter states.

When BI petitioned ABC to clarify this dual price issue, they received no response, says the letter. Says BIs associate publisher Malavika Singh, I dont feel we have lost any circulation. What they (BT and BW) have done is unethical.

BT has also been accused by Business India of buying subscribers by giving them gifts which are often equivalent or even a higher value than the subscription itself. This, according to the BI letter, violates the spirit of ABCs rules on permitting copies sold at less than the normal declared news-stand price.

Living Media executive director, N P Singh, refutes such allegations. Giving gifts with subscriptions is a worldwide phenomenon. The Time magazine does so, The Economist is doing it and so do others in India. If Business India does not want to give gifts, its their problems not ours.