GETIT Infomediary breaks BSNL contract

Kochi: M&N Publications, which had entered into a contract with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for publishing and distributing telephone directories under the brand name GETIT Yellow Pages in the Ernakulam telcom circle, has withdrawn from the contract.

Managing director and vice-chairman Ramesh Gupta said his company is getting out of the contract because it is not economically and technically viable for printing and distributing the directories for the telecom department.

Gupta was in Kochi in connection with the companys announcement of its new corporate identity, GETIT Infomediary Limited. The company was formerly known as M&N Publications Limited, the largest publishers of official telephone directories in India and the pioneer of the yellow pages industry under the brand name GETIT.

GETIT Intermediary will now be the umbrella company for all the services provided by M&N Publications - GETIT Yellow Pages, Getit Now (the 24-hour tele-information service), GETIT CD-ROM, Getitindia.com and Asian Vendors (an Exim Infomediary on Asia).

The company has redefined its role from being a directory publisher to being an information-provider and an intermediary that brings buyers and sellers together - thus infomediary. The company is planning various new offerings over the next few months to serve consumers and the business community, Gupta said.

Established in 1986 by the Tej Bandhu group with 16 people and a turnover of US $100,000 in 1987, the company has grown to over 600 members with a turnover of above US $10 million. The company annually brings out over 4.5 million directory copies, contributing to about 80 per cent of all official telephone directories in India.

Its market-share in all the regions of presence is as high as 70 per cent. The company, which currently has offices in 22 locations across the country, has alliances with leading companies in eight countries and represents India in the Yellow Pages Publishing Association and the Asian Directory Publishers Association.

Through an extensive research we realised that there is a drastic change in the information seeking habits of consumers. It is not that they would simply, over a period of time, migrate from the use of print media to the tele-services or the Internet, but they will use a combination of these media, according to their convenience, depending on where they are and what will be most comfortable they will be with, Gupta said.

He said his company segmented yellow pages into B2B and B2C to sharply focus them and make them more user-friendly. The advertisement industry will not perish. The present crisis should be examined in the milieu of the global slowdown. There is a large market for the advertisement sector in India and there is a room for everyone. One has to change with the times. Unless you bundle your services, you will lose out.