Print CEOs discuss the Frankfurt Book Fair at a roundtable
In the run-up to the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018, the German Book Office (GBO) with support from PrintWeek India conducted a roundtable with print CEOs to brainstorm the possibilities of representing the Indian print community in an effective way at the show.
16 Feb 2018 | By Priya Raju
Print CEOs discuss the Frankfurt Book Fair at a roundtable
The event was conducted on 14 February 2018 at the Trident Hotel in Mumbai. The closed-door confabulations saw nine print CEOs plus Juergen Boos and Claudia Kaiser of Frankfurt Book fair attend the event.
The event started with Abhishek Kejriwal of Parksons Graphics presenting the scenario of the book printing in India. He said, "The current market size of the textbook market alone is USD 4.6-bn whereas trade books are USD 0.3-bn and it is growing at the rate of 20% and 4% respectively. This shows the potential of book publishing in India."
Sharing his experiences and expectations about the participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair, he said, "Participation at exhibitions helps a firm to enhance its global presence and helps one understand the market presence. However, there is a need to project India as a print destination and ensure better visibility and printer-publisher engagement."
After the presentation, the discussion revolved around what measures need to be taken so as to ensure that the Indian book print firms can leverage the show to their advantage. An important point of discussion being, how can one get a targetted database to connect with the right people, getting better visibility and networking opportunities to explore export as an option.
In addition to this, the various prospects of getting grants from Indian government body's like the CAPEXIL (Chemical and Allied Export Promotion Council of India), for representation of Indian Pavillion at the show was discussed. Rajnish Shirsat of R&S Enterprises said, "A governing body similar to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) body for IT firms in India is the need of the hour for print firms."
The Frankfurt Book Fair, an international trade for the publishing, media and allied industry, will be held from 10-14 October 2018.
See All