Foreign magazines allowed into India

India on Thursday said it has allowed foreign news and current affairs magazines to publish local editions, which will help readers get the magazines at cheaper rates, a government statement said.

The foreign news and current affairs magazines like 'The Economist' are currently imported into India, which makes them costlier for readers.

One would love to buy Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Businessweek etc. at a nearby newspaper shop at reasonable prices

Indian publishers can now change the content and add local content and advertisements in such magazines, it said.

Print publication advertising revenues in India generated 94 billion rupees ($2.4 billion) in 2007, or 48 percent of the country's media advertising revenues, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said in a report.

No wonder all the international big guns of the publishing industry pushed the government to let them in! There is lots of money to be made in India!

Sustained economic growth and entry of new breed of advertisers would ensure steady print advertising growth of 14.5 percent over 2006-11, the report said.

This has resulted in foreign media firms picking up stakes in Indian media firms.

India currently allows 26 percent foreign direct investment in news publications and said it would continue to keep it at that levels.

Yahoo/Reuters