India booked US, Europe offshoring desktop publishing work

The next time on your visit abroad you read a high-quality printed document or see a well-designed illustration in an international publication, chances are that it would have been designed here in India.

Desktop publishing (DTP) is the new entry in the fray to join the outsourcing industry. DTP is a facility primarily comprising a computer and a page layout software that allows the creation of publication documents for large-scale and small-scale publishing.

"The scientific, technical and mathematical (STM) publication market is valued at about $ US 1.2 billion worldwide, and the turnover in India is approximately Rs 1000 crore. The future prospects of this industry is good, as it is growing at an annual growth rate of about 30 per cent, says Soumitra Das of Thomson Digital.

"Graphic design, text layout for magazines, journals and books, cover design, data conversion and typesetting, are some of the latest desktop publishing services currently being outsourced to India, owing to the powerful software programmes, skilled labour and English language competency in India," says Anju Ecavade of Macmillan India Ltd.

Indian DTP companies have continuously been making efforts in keeping themselves abreast of the latest developments in technologies related to the field of publishing, thereby enhancing the reliability of foreign investors in India, Ecavade adds.

"Publishers, corporations, financial companies, automobile companies, even pharmaceutical industry worldwide come to India for typesetting documents, books, journals, and anything related to content," says Deepak Kumar of Techbooks Delhi.

"We are better than other players abroad because of high English language competency, computer software skills, and strong education system in India. The industry is growing at a rate of 40 per cent annually, and the future looks very good and bright", adds Kumar.

Apart from the cost-benefit aspect, foreign companies outsource publishing-related works and benefit from the "organised" editorial service and content editing in India, adds Das.

"The industry (DTP services) primarily started off with scientific, technical and mathematical (STM) journals which are being outsourced. It is a pre-Press kind of work, where we accept the manuscript or research papers along with the graphics and illustrations and convert it into publishable format," says Das.

With the booming printing technology in India, such services even cater to firms dealing in customer support, software development, web designing and accounting, besides information processing services such as transcription services (legal as well as medical), text keying, data capturing and processing, and also translation services.

In this backdrop, the Indian DTP industry is sure to make big ripples in global level in the years to come, says Ecavade. — PTI