Update 2008 Version 1.0

Update 2008 Version 1.0

Blurb- A democratic polity and government expenditure on education is creating demands beyond that of first generation literates’ for political news. In the first wave of FDI in electronic media, magazines, especially film magazines, took a beating from television. The current magazine boom implies that globalised magazines may travel or translate better than newspapers in the fast growing Indian economy. It is also possible that increased economic well being and a consumer culture create interests apart from politics in a new demographic of second generation literates.

By Purva Sethi

The Outlook Group currently publishes Outlook, Outlook Saptahik (in Hindi), Outlook Business, Outlook Money, Outlook Traveler, and Marie Claire. Maheshwar Peri is President and publisher of the Outlook Group which is owned by the Rajan Raheja group, with interests in manufacturing, financial services, cable networks, software, hospitality, construction, and infrastructure.
The Outlook group’s third financial magazine after Outlook Money, and Business Outlook, Outlook Profit came out with its first issue on 23 February 2008. The magazine is targeted at high net worth investors exploring the stock markets. It is priced at Rs 50 and will have 26 issues annually.

Outlook Profit

We spoke to the Outlook group before the launch of the magazine and they seemed quite positive about the response of the magazine, due to the increasing number of people who invest in the stock market and depend on newspapers and brokers for their investment advice. In fact, Maheshwar Peri, has been quoted by the financial press as saying, “Today, the financial space is completely unexplored. There is no investment advisor in the magazine space, leaving a few small players who don’t have much reach. With markets pulling a rabbit out of the hat almost every day, I believe this is the perfect time to dedicate a magazine to the country’s financial boom.”

The magazine has started with an initial print run of 1,50,000, which Peri expects will come down to 70,000 later. Besides stock related information, the magazine will also have high-end lifestyle-related content. N Mahalaxmi, formerly editor of Business Standard’s Monday pullout, Smart Investor heads the editorial team.