The game plan - Gunter Thielen, chairman and CEO, Bertelsmann AG said on a visit to India - will be to increase the group's presence in Asia over the next five years to around 30 per cent, as currently less than 6 per cent of Bertelsmann's business comes from markets other than Europe and the US.
"This visit stems from an offer made by (India's) Information & Broadcasting minister in November last year at Berlin. He invited me here to look at the opportunities and promised to arrange meetings with all the media heads in the country," said Thielen.
The group established itself in the business process outsourcing (BPO) segment a year ago in partnership with the Bird group, which was until now handling Lufthansa as its client. Thielen added that prospective clients include Microsoft and German retail food giant Rewe. "Of course, book publishing is growing and we are already present, but we are looking at possibilities in the broadcasting market - television and other service industries which are linked to TV such as home-shopping and merchandising. We are also big in production and content." He added that the group was open to local partnerships.