Starting a magazine business

Magazine Registration in India

Starting a business of publishing magazine is one of the emerging businesses these days. But, a aspiring entrepreneur looking at starting the business of publication of magazines needs to understand the norms and procedures as prescribed by laws in India. After deciding the title/ name of the magazine and registering the business entity, you need to register the magazine that you propose to publish.

There are certain steps to be followed to register magazine:

·         Approach the Regional Magistrate court.

·         Prepare the application in the format as prescribed

·         Obtain R. Dis Number allotted by the magistrate court

·         Applying to Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), Delhi office for name availability through the magistrate court

·         It would take about 90 days of time for the RNI, Delhi office to approve the name as proposed.

·         Once the name is approved by Delhi office, then approach the magistrate court to get a date allotted for hearing (date can be allotted anytime between 1 to 4 months from the date of request)

·         Printer, Publisher & Editor are required to appear before the magistrate for taking oath.

·         Following Documents must be produced during the time of appearance;

o   Declaration copy which has to be filled by Printer, Publisher & Editor and to produce 3 copies each.

o    Address & Id proof of the Printer, Publisher & Editor.

o   Printing Press License copy of the Printer.

·         After this is done, there will be an approval to this effect from the Magistrate court.

·         Then, the magazine can be published.

·         The copies of the magazines have to be submitted to the RNI, Regional office for the final approval.

·         They will evaluate whether the magazine meets the criteria specified in the declaration.

·         Once they are satisfied, they will issue a RNI certificate.

·         Both the R. Dis Number and RNI Number have to be mentioned on each copy of the magazine.

It takes around 45 working days to 90 working days after applying. Generally, consultants charge Rs. 20, 000/- to Rs. 50, 000/- for the professional fees to register the magazine.