German publisher Springer to shift 1,550 jobs to India

S. Srinivasan Canadian Press

September 14, 2005

BANGALORE, India (AP) - German publisher Springer Science+Business Media plans to begin publishing German works from India and expand it's existing English-language publishing operations in the country, shifting about 1,550 jobs to the South Asian country, the company's chief executive said Wednesday.

The company, which already employs 1,200 typesetters and editors in India, also plans to move finance and marketing tasks to the southern Indian city of Madras, where it has an office, CEO Derk Haank told reporters.

"We constantly review each of our tasks and ask ourselves why this is being done in Germany or New York," Haank said. "We ask if we can do it in India instead."

Haank said two-thirds of the company's $1.23 billion US in annual revenues come from English-language publishing, with the rest coming form about 100 trade magazines in German.

The success of the outsourcing of English-language publishing to India has convinced the company it should try to outsource German-language publishing to the country, he said.

A small team of Germans is being sent to Madras to teach the European language to Indian staffers, he said, adding that the German-language publishing operation should be up and running by the end of next year.

The Berlin-based company, formerly known as BertelsmannSpringer, will increase its worldwide staff from 5,000 people to 5,500 in two years, with about half those jobs in India, he said. That will mean about 1,550 job cuts in Germany and elsewhere.

Springer, an 164-year-old company with operations in 18 countries, publishes scientific, technical and business publications. It publishes about 100,000 articles and 4,000 special interest books each year.

India is also Springer's fastest-growing market for niche publications, with revenues at $10 million a year and growing at 35 per cent annually. The company's overall revenues are growing at about five per cent a year, he said.