Making a New Story

Juggernaut straddles the world of books and digital devices with its smartphone publishing platform

- Manu Balachandran

Chiki Sarkar knows well that books are perhaps the last thing on people’s mind these days. More so at a time when a smartphone boom, fuelled by high-speed internet, has made it easy to access millions of videos at a click. “I don’t want to be a number one. I want to be around because there is always a need for books and storytelling,” says Sarkar, publisher of Juggernaut Books, India’s first smartphone publisher.

The company was founded in 2015 by Sarkar and Durga Raghunath, a former CEO of Network 18 Digital. The latter stepped down as Juggernaut’s CEO last February. Much of the funding came from investors, including Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Fabindia promoter William Bissell, and Boston Consulting Group’s India Managing Director Neeraj Aggarwal, who put in over $2.2 million while the founders too invested small amounts.