When it comes to books in India, you need a publishing house that understands your point of view. Penguin Random House India knows your market, understands new forms and styles of literature in India, and is a subsidiary of well-established and respected global publishing house, Penguin Random House. As printers and publishers of adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction in the U.K., U.S., and India, it’s one of the most recognized names in publishing. 

The result of a holy union between two publishing giants – Bertelsmann’s Random House and Pearson’s Penguin – Penguin Random House was formed on 1 July, 2013. The two parent companies own 53% (Bertelsmann) and 47% (Pearson) of Penguin Random House. 

Penguin Books was a brain child of British publisher Allen Lane in 1935. Urban legend speaks of his fruitless quest to find a good book to read at the Exeter Railway Station, which, among other factors, led to the inspiration for Penguin books – producing a range of affordable and high quality paperback books. At the time, paperbacks weren’t the chosen format for anyone wishing to publish serious, well written literature. The books soon found a profitable market in the U.K. surprising initial sceptics of Lane’s idea, and setting the tone for intellectual reading as a layman’s game in the 20th century… a tradition still upheld by you, amongst millions of other bookworms today. The image of the bird as the character that in collective memory, is Penguin Books, as well as the name, was suggested by Lane’s secretary, Joan Coles. The initial design was created by the then 21 year old office junior named Edward Young, after a trip to the zoo. 

Penguin India, which we understand is what you’re considering, was started in 1985, and is the largest English language trade publisher in the subcontinent. Publishing started in 1987 with six books. In 2017, as we celebrate 30 years of being around, you get around 250 new titles from Penguin every year, along with an active backlist of over 3000 titles on top of that. While you may know Penguin India mainly as a portal for the classic fiction you love to devour – we’re also known for modern fiction as well as narrative non-fiction including biography, travel, business, politics, history, religion and philosophy, lifestyle, cookery, health and fitness, sports and leisure, visual books and children’s books. 

Penguin India boasts an author list that gets features as some of India’s favourite writers, and will make you long for book readings, updates, and new titles. Featuring three Booker Prize winning novels (The God of Small Things, The Inheritance of Loss, and Life of Pi), authors whom you’re gotten to know through Penguin have won virtually every major literary prize including the Nobel Prize, the Magsaysay Award, the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award, and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. Penguin authors have also been recipients of the Bharat Ratna, and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian honors. 

If you seek to get to the roots of Indian literature, Penguin India also publishes in Hindi. Further, if you’re seeking to spread bibliophilia to the masses, Penguin India titles are available in several Indian languages through our local language publishers. These include Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Urdu. 

You will also be familiar with a number of leading publishing houses for whom Penguin India is the exclusive distributor partner in the region, including the Penguin Group, A&C Black, Atlantic Books, Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber,  Granta, Hay House, Icon, Kyle Cathie, Marshall Cavendish, Mira, Quercus,  Sterling, Constable & Robinson, Oneworld and Zubaan. 

Your book needs come in many forms, and at Penguin India, we’re trying to fulfil all of them. Our publishing initiatives in the recent past include the launch of its Indian Language Publishing program in 2005 and the launch of Portfolio, our dedicated business books imprint in 2006. In 2008, for your intellectual hunger, Penguin launched the non-fiction imprint Allen Lane—the imprint of ideas—in India, as well as the Penguin Studio imprints which publishes high-quality illustrated books. This was followed by the launch of Penguin’s cutting-edge literary imprint Hamish Hamilton in 2009 if you’re into, of Ananda, its MindBodySpirit imprint, in 2010, and its mass market fiction imprint Metro Reads and its Young Adult imprint in 2011.

Penguin India publishes its children’s titles under the Puffin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird imprints; it was the first Group Company to publish Ladybird books outside the UK. Disney’s iconic Mickey and Friends characters as well as - Aladdin, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Dumbo and the cast of  ‘The Jungle Book’ is also available under the Puffin imprint. The fully-illustrated books include readers, storybooks, colouring and activity as well as novelty books. 

With our strong online presence – the strongest among Indian publishers – and our robust book club – Penguin India hopes to stay connected with you and your needs at all times. The Penguin App, launched in 2011, as well as publishing over 2200 e-book titles every year contributes to Penguin India having the highest recall value in India among readers like you. Your weekly list of bestsellers, published by AC Nielsen, will be peppered consistently with Penguin India above other publishing houses. 

Penguin India organizes the prestigious Penguin Annual Lecture – a unique property among publishers in India – as well an annual ten-day-long open-air library and literary festival, called Spring Fever. 

As you make your way through books – reading and writing – Penguin India will have you covered no matter what mood, life and lifestyle change you go through.