Prakash Iyer sees double digit growth in publishing

The market has been full of rumours that ICICI purchased one of the oldest printing companies in India to strip its assets and sack its employees. “No,” says Prakash Iyer, Managing Director, Infomedia India Limited, “we’re here to stay. If there are such rumours, it is very negative. My company has made the single largest buy-out in India. Our buy-out was a reaffirmation of the possibilities in publishing. We believe, printing and publishing is a high growth segment in India. Our company is not going to sell the assets for short term gains, we’re going to make the business, grow.”

Prakash Iyer is neither a printer nor a publisher; he is one of the new breed of market savvy professionals, who headed Pepsi operations in China. He worked with one of the biggest print buyer’s in India. He is keenly aware of the “sentimental and emotional attachments” that the printing industry has to the “good old Tata Press”. He hopes to translate the good will. He is unambiguous “we’re an organisation in a hurry. There is a sense of urgency, to transform the organisation and reward the employees and make them responsible for better results.” He adds there hasn’t been any retrenchment or morale problems with the employees, as rumoured. When asked about the two, high-profile management persons who are no longer with the organisation, Iyer says, they were “sacked” because of “strong reasons.” The new management also shut down the film division, Cutting Edge, since it was “not an area of expertise.”

Iyer is very keen to ensure Infomedia India Limited (IIL) retains its standing as India’s largest provider of commercial information in the form of business directories popularly known as the Infomedia Yellow Pages (previously Tata Press Yellow Pages), as well as capitalising on the business of direct marketing solutions through Direct Edge. One of the company’s core businesses remains printing leading magazines — Outlook, Outlook Money, Outlook Traveller. And glossies like Femina, Elle, Elle Décor, Upper Crust, Man’s World, Gurlz (India’s fastest growing women’s magazine), Verve, and Osho Times. The newly launched Mumbai Time Out is also printed by Infomedia.

This work along with the books and Touchstone diaries are produced with the help of a comprehensive print production system. The extensive digital prepress with both DaVinci and Brisque workflows has just gone in for a Screen Platerite MarkII CtP. The pressroom is in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, with heatset web presses from Heidelberg Harris and Mitsubishi. Sheetfed presses include a 5-colour, three 4-colour, and two 2-colour Heidelbergs, and a UV coater from Steinemann. The huge automated binding division includes saddle stitching and perfect binding from Muller Martini, as well as finishing equipment from Stahl, Polar, Kolbus and Wohlenberg. This impressive and enviable array of equipment is why, Infomedia got an ISO 9002 certificate for “Provision of Printing Services.”

Ramu Ramanathan, senior editor, Indian Printer and Publisher interviewed Prakash Iyer.

What is the latest situation at Infomedia after the mega deal in which ICICI Venture Funds Management Company, took over 50 per cent equity stake in Tata Infomedia? Has there been a shift in management or production policy?

There is no shift. In the past 2-3 years, our top-line hasn’t improved. We want to remedy it. We’ve recognised a huge potential for growth in the business. It is our intention to do print jobs for the high-end market. We want to add value to the printed product. We don’t want to compete on price. Besides, ink, paper, printing, we want to add value to the content and enhance the information.

In the past few years, Infomedia has been jostling for better returns through alliances and tie-ups. Be it the tie-up with R R Donnelley and the change of name from Tata Press to Tata Infomedia. In this sense, industry watchers are keen to learn, how different is the recent deal with ICICI?

ICICI is a private equity player, and a non-interfering partner. It’s a company which saw an opportunity in Tata Infomedia. Based on our findings, Infomedia believes in a shift in focus. Instead of being a print player, we’ve to become an important publisher.

What is the status on Infomedia’s Yellow Pages?

We print 21 lakh (2.1 million) directories in 12 cities and it constitutes less than 50 per cent of our business. As you know, it began when the first business directory, Tata Press Yellow Pages, was printed for Bombay in 1992. Now, Infomedia has city specific business directories for twelve prime cities of India — Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune and Vadodara. This makes us the largest publisher of business directories in the country today. Today, there’s a lot of competition, which has made us realise the need to expand our geographical reach and examine new segments like city guides and home guides.

The last time this correspondent spoke to top management, it was mentioned that the company will shift from traditional printing of directories to the manufacturing of cd roms and web-enabled data bases.

A CD-ROM version of the Infomedia India Yellow Pages for the cities of Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai is available. Some of these business directories are also available on the net, but the bottom-line is, print is dominant.

What about the Exporter’s Guide?

The Indian Exporters’ Guide is a comprehensive directory containing information about Indian exporters. The Indian Exporters’ Guide is available in a 3-in-1 package, Print, Internet, and CD-ROM. It offers you an opportunity to choose from more than 27,000 of India’s businesses from various industries.

The print version is distributed to 60,000 identified international importers in 174 countries, Free of Charge. The thing is, we’ve an IT department that is fully equipped with an array of indigenous servers and desktops with state-of-the-art networking. The division’s capacity is evident from the fact that the entire processing of its business directories is done by in-house software.

Similarly, huge volumes of data for the direct marketing division are totally handled by in-house staff. Our organisation is in a position to deliver print solutions for remote clients through the use of leased lines or direct tele dial up.

What is the latest status on Tata Infomedia’s Special Interest Publications (SIP) Overdrive, Better Photography, Search. With the advent of Times Group and other rival publications in these segments, have you been able to sustain your market share?

The SIP Division’ - SIPD was launched with a drive to fulfil the quest for knowledge of people with focused interests. The interests are both professional and or personal, as is very apparent from the various magazines that we have — Overdrive, Better Photography, AV Max, Automonitor, SEARCH and Chemical World. We’re trying to ensure these magazines cater to both readers and advertisers. For instance, magazines like Search are a great opportunity for B2B dealings. Besides strengthening content, we hope to be an ally of the small and medium companies featured in these magazines.

Are you planning to launch any new special interest magazines to overcome a stagnant publishing market and guarantee returns that are not dependent on advertisements?

We’re very bullish about our Special Interest Publications (SIP) and have witnessed 30 per cent growth and shall launch two more titles, soon. With Brand India emphasising itself, so many new product segments have opened up. Infomedia is looking into these segments, since we’re the only company in the organised sector which can offer many titles under roof.

According to stock market reports, your company is hoping for high returns of 20 per cent? What utilisation rate is necessary in your press and administrative centres to make Infomedia profitable?

Yes, we’ve had high growth in the last quarter, but I don’t think high returns should be equated with press utilisation. It remains to be seen how we expand our directory business and innovate in the SIP. The point is Infomedia India is a zero debt, listed company with an excellent financial record.

What is the status of the sale of machines from your Prabhadevi Centre and the labour issues in Nerul? Have these issues been resolved?

The print production is fine. How else would we be printing some of the most important weeklies and monthlies, like Outlook, Elle, Femina, issue after issue. Guaranteeing exacting print standards and timely delivery. There are no labour issues. In fact the new management team is fine-tuning employee friendly policies which believe in job satisfaction and customer focus. We want Infomedia to be a great place to work in.

Is Infomedia India Ltd (IIL) still in the business of database management and direct marketing solutions for corporates through Direct Edge?

Direct Edge is about leveraging the core competence of Infomedia. We’re backing publishing as an important sector. This is a work in progress. And we’re examining the possibilities of becoming a one-stop print shop for customers in China or Italy. Today, the question we should ask is, why should we go global? Why is it important that every Indian print company should think of being global? And how far Indian print companies could go with — and without — the Indian economy.