Juggernaut Books
 | |
| Founded | September 2015 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Chiki Sarkar, Durga Raghunath |
| Country of origin | India |
| Headquarters location | New Delhi, India |
| Distribution | Online and physical |
| Publication types | Online publishing, short stories, autobiographies, ebooks |
| Official website | www |
Juggernaut Books is a publisher headquartered in New Delhi, India.[1][2] Starting with digital books distributed via its website and mobile apps, it turned to publishing physical books later.
History
[edit]Juggernaut was founded by Durga Raghunath and Chiki Sarkar in September 2015.[3] Before co-founding Juggernaut, Sarkar was a publisher of Penguin India and founder-publisher of Random House India. Raghunath was the CEO of Network18 Digital, senior VP-Growth, at Zomato and also founded Firstpost.[4]
Juggernaut raised Rs 15 crores in its initial round of seed funding from Fabindia's chairman William Bissell; former CEO and co-founder of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani and MD of Boston Consulting Group, Neeraj Aggarwal.[5]
In April 2016, Juggernaut launched India's first mobile-publishing application.[1][6] Priya Ramani was appointed as the editor-at-large for its digital properties in the same year.[7] In February 2017, Raghunath resigned from the post of CEO and decided to continue as a shareholder.[8] Simran Khara is the current CEO of the publishing house.[9]
In December 2017, Bharti Airtel acquired a strategic stake in the house.[10] In March 2019, American publishing house HarperCollins joined in a partnership with Juggernaut Books, becoming their sales, distribution partner.[11]
Controversies
[edit]On 4 August 2017, Delhi High Court imposed a ban on publication and sale of book Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev from Juggernaut Books written by Priyanka Pathak Narain based on Ramdev's life.[12] After a legal battle with Ramdev, the ex-parte interim injunction was lifted from the book on 28 April 2018.[13]
In 2018, the book The Burning Forest: India's war in Bastar published from Juggernaut books, written by Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar based on Maoist insurgency and the violence in Bastar was dropped from the department's syllabus. Sundar was also indicted in a murder case filed by a woman called Vimla Baghel of her husband, a Maoist activist. But in February 2019, the professor was cleared of murder charges by police.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "India's first smartphone publisher is now live—with stories from adult film star Sunny Leone". Quartz. 22 April 2016. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ "Juggernaut India's answer to Wattpad gets its first movie deal as an injunction against another Juggernaut title is restored - The New Publishing Standard". 19 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
- ^ Banerjee, Ruben (5 August 2018). "Juggernaut Books announces the release of Naveen Patnaik, the first political biography of Odisha's CM". OdishaDiary. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- ^ "Here comes Juggernaut, Chiki Sarkar's new publishing venture". Printweek. 23 September 2015. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ "Airtel picks up stake in online writers platform Juggernaut Books". Entrackr. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ "India's think-outside-the-box publisher Juggernaut partners with Youth Ki Awaaz for exclusive digital originals". The New Publishing Standard. 31 March 2018. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ "Juggernaut Books appoints Priya Ramani as editor at large". MediaNama. 4 January 2016. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ "Durga Raghunath Steps Down As CEO Of Chiki Sarkar's Juggernaut Books". Huffington Post. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ "Airtel picks up stake in Juggernaut". The Indian Express. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ "Bharti Airtel acquires strategic stake in Juggernaut Books". The Hindu Business. 4 December 2017.
- ^ PTI. "HarperCollins to be sales, distribution partner of Juggernaut Books". @businessline. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ "Delhi High Court stays publication and sale of book on Ramdev's life". The Economic Times. 10 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- ^ "In 'landmark victory for free speech', injunction on book on Ramdev's life lifted". The Financial Express. 28 April 2018. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ Scroll Staff. "Chhattisgarh: Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar cleared of murder charges by police". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.