Ashok Kumar Malhotra, Founder of the MBD Group — a first-generation entrepreneur and a pioneer of the publishing industry in India—has been honoured as a “Publishing Icon” by the International Publishers Congress 2018. The International Publishers Congress 2018 was hosted by the International Publishers Association (IPA) with its Indian member, Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), in New Delhi after 26 years. The IPC is a biennial Congress and the principal theme of the Congress is ‘Shaping the Future: Innovation meets Experience’.
Ashok Kumar Malhotra, perhaps the youngest publisher ever who published a self-authored book when he was just 13, was a true visionary; he dreamt of creating an MBD product for every literate person. He was a force in shaping the publishing sector in India and elsewhere; not only did he understand the significance of creative learning, but he was also instrumental in modernising the publishing business and introducing contemporary learning practices among other things. He was a man with a mission to transform a book-selling business unit into a financial giant and one of the successful brands of all times.
Today, MBD Group is one of the leading education companies in India with over six decades of domain experience. It is the only company which has complete backward and forward integration with ten printing units, fully equipped with state-of-the-art prepress, press and post-press facilities, producing about 5,00,000 books per day. The Group has 34 branch offices, a large number of employees and a wide network of distributors and booksellers across the country.
The International Publishers Association (IPA) is the foremost global representative of the full range of publishers’ interests, from copyright to freedom to publish. Since the first IPA Congress held in 1896 in Paris, the event has continued to attract the world’s leading publishers and is a vital platform for publishers to discuss the industry’s most important challenges, network and learn.
“I am overwhelmed by this recognition accorded to my father whose vision and legacy laid the solid foundation upon which the MBD Group stands today. As a father, he is the perfect role model and whatever we have achieved today is solely because of his guidance and life lessons we learned from him,” his daughter Monica Malhotra Kandhari and Managing Director of MBD Group says in tribute to the great publisher.
Building an Empire
Motivation, Belief, Determination were the key strengths that Ashok Kumar Malhotra had built the MBD Empire on. At MBD, he dreamt to offer a platform where all voices were equal. He wished to put a spotlight on, everything! Every profession, sector, issue and person was important to him.
As our founder, Ashok Kumar Malhotra, often said, “It’s when things seem the worst that you mustn’t allow yourself to quit.” He always had the vision of a guru but the free mind of a spiritual leader. A first-generation entrepreneur who embarked on his journey of books at the tender age of 13 when he published his first self-authored book, titled, ‘General Education’, with an initial seed capital of Rs One lakh, marked the birth of The MBD Group
Hailing from Jalandhar in Punjab, the beginnings of the journey were humble but he had the quiet conviction to make his vision come true, which was, “For every literate person, there should be an MBD Book”. Initially, he had to outsource the printing. He bought his first press 'Dhanpat Rai' where all the composition of books was done by hand using lead type, as there was no concept of offset printing as we have today. It would take up to two months to publish a single book by hand.
Today, MBD group publishes the largest number of titles, including textbooks, workbooks, teacher manuals, readers for all classes and subjects, in all major boards and regional languages of India. It also publishes books in programming language and mathematics curriculum. The e-learning programme caters to millions of learners across the globe via its e-content in the form of Academy (Digital Classroom), Self Learning Material for Students in CDs/ DVDs, and online resources. We have made inroads into Mlearning and have successfully launched the first augmented reality app Nytra, for learners in the Asia Pacific region, which is integrated with our textbooks.
Mr Malhotra firmly believed that the best things in life find their own place in course of time; all you need, to make this happen, is the motivation backed by belief and determination. His dynamism made him an extremely successful businessman, one who shouldered multi-business responsibilities with ease and huge success.
As a father, he always ensured that his daughters, Monica and Sonica, were brought up to be strong individuals with an independent mind and yet be grounded. The dynamic young duo is trained to handle the publishing, hotel and real estate divisions of the company and is following their father's footsteps as the company forges ahead in new directions.
To salute the entrepreneurial excellence and exemplary contribution of Ashok Kumar Malhotra to the publishing industry, the FIP (an apex organisation setting high standards of printing and publishing in India) and FEPI (India’s most acknowledged publishing organisation) have conferred several awards on him. Mr Malhotra always believed that “One could be the biggest or be the best but there was no accomplishment if the biggest wasn't the best... so one must strive to be the best.”