The publisher is not, however, confident enough to commission authors.

"We do not wish to upset the applecart by trying to be independent. Let us face facts. We cannot match the business acumen in publishing of foreign countries because the quality of our finished products is still not up to international standards. But, thanks to our IT skills, we are surging ahead."

Despite the handicaps, premier publishers of the world like Oxford University Press and Springer Verlag outsource work to India.

"As newspaper industry in developed countries are grappling with dwindling advertisement revenues and shrinking circulation base, they would eventually being to outsource to countries like India," said K. Venugopal, joint editor of Businessline, a daily newspaper published by The Hindu group.

The total size of the newspaper industry in the US and Britain is estimated at $75 billion.