The government move allowing foreign publishers to enter Indian market through EPZ, they say has led to siphoning off of crores of rupees from Indian shores. ``Multinational publishing houses are allowed to publish books in India with 100 per cent equity and they do not have to pay taxes or even excise,'' says Federation of the Publishers and Book Sellers (FPBAI) in India president SC Sethi.

The government as a process of economic liberalisation had allowed foreign book publishers to print books in India in the hope of generating more foreign exchange but Indian publishers say is working the other way round.``I call EPZ `Import promotion zone' as the MNCs bring in small capital and buy raw materials and manpower at cheap rate and also sell books in India in foreign currency,'' says Sethi.

``The government's policy was to allow these companies to print books and India and market them abroad to fetch foreign change but it is the other way round,''' says Sunil Sachdev of Allied Publishers.

``They get a lot of preferences and we are losing more than 16 per cent working under extreme disadvantages under such competition and we cannot match their prices as they do not have to pay taxes and excise,'' says Sachdev.

According to Sethi, Indian book publishers had approached the government several times on the subject and despite assurances nothing concrete has come about. ``We met the education secretary recently and he was very supportive and understanding but I am afraid it will take some time to correct the mistakes as many ministries like the commerce, finance and education are involved,'' says Sachdev. Other domestic publishers charge that the multinationals bring in superior machinery without having to pay customs and sell it in foreign currency which again is transferred to their parent bodies abroad.

``They can afford to invest large sums as they get money in their countries at a very low rate of interest while in India the existing interest rate in borrowing touching 18 to 20 per cent is very high,'' notes one of the publishers. ``The basic idea behind EPZ is being violated by selling their products here causing an outflow of foreign exchange instead inflow the zone it is meant to bring in.'' ``For instance, if a book is printed in India at a cost of $3 they sell the same in India at a much higher price, the proceeds of which is routed to their home countries,'' says Sethi. In the process, if a company invests $20,000, five times the sum goes back to the country of origin, he charges, adding that the government should carefully examine if these companies are fulfilling their obligations.

``We are not scared of the competition as such. But if the multinationals work under the same condition as we are, the quality of the print will not only improve but the prices will also go down. They should, however, bat on the same wicket as we do,'' says Sethi.

``There are foreign companies like Harper Collins which is entirely an Indian entity as they also publish books under the same circumstances as we do and the books are sold in Indian currency,'' he points out.