SAGE Publishing closes India books division due to 'challenging business environment'

SAGE Publishing is closing its Indian books division due to a “challenging business environment” in the country.

The Indian Express reported employees were informed of the closure late last week by c.e.o. Blaise R Simqu, who wrote: “Over many years now our attempts to make domestic book publishing at SAGE India commercially viable have faced significant challenges and the pandemic has only made it more problematic.”

According to the newspaper, around 70 employees lost their jobs as part of the closure. One described the process as “brutal and humiliating”, adding: “People have been given no chance to speak, made to sign NDAs and told to hand in their resignation letters with immediate effect.”

A spokesperson for the firm told The Bookseller: “Over the past few years, we have experienced a particularly challenging business environment for book publishing in India due to the pandemic and other economic factors and as a result we have decided to discontinue the SAGE India book publishing operation. This decision is very specific to SAGE India’s books and does not impact SAGE India’s thriving journals publishing programme, as well as our strong imported books sales in India.

“We are actively looking for a new home for our book titles and will make an announcement as soon as we are able. Meanwhile our book publishing operation is active until the point we transition it. We are continuing to support our authors and keeping in contact with them through this process.”