Bloomsbury Publishing to set up in India
14th February 2012

Bloomsbury, publisher of the Harry Potter novels, today (14th February 2012) announced that it is setting up a new business in India to take advantage of the country's rapidly increasing population where 50 million buy English books every year. Although the company has been operating in India for 25 years with a long standing marketing and distribution partnership with Penguin, it now plans to grow its presence in India by setting up a wholly owned business. Bloomsbury Publishing believes that India is an excellent market for its expanding and diverse product range and is also steadily becoming an important source of authorship and will be a significant future ebooks market.

In line with the publisher's strategy to globalise and further diversify, and following on from the success of the recent licensing deal for the Wisden brand in India, Bloomsbury will focus in India on exploiting the exciting growth opportunities the country offers. The timing is good with the Indian retail chain footprint increasing rapidly, growth of on-line retailers and the country's significant future ebook readership.

For Bloomsbury it is important that this key initiative is led by a trusted, experienced and respected leader. The Indian company will be led by Rajiv Beri, a highly-regarded publishing professional who has been Managing Director of Macmillan's Indian operations for over 15 years. The company will be based in Delhi and is expected to be operational by May 2012.