S. Chand Group is an Indian publishing and education services companies, founded in 1939 and based in
New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
. The publishing house prints books for primary, secondary and higher education sectors.
It was the first company in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
to get the
ISO 9001:2000 certification. Books of this publishing house are distributed across India and
South Asia
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
,
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
.
The company operates from approximately 25 offices and a similar number of branches, and employs a workforce of over 2000 employees.
In 2013,
Forbes India
''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'', which is managed by the Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18.
History and profile
Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies ...
named S. Chand Group as the fastest growing player in the education sector, and the group claims to sell over 10,000 titles to over 40,000 schools and educational institutes.
History
S. Chand was founded in 1939, in a by-lane of
Chandni Chowk by
Shyam Lal Gupta, as a part of a nationalistic effort to provide a voice to Indian authors and educate India's population.
Publishing in India was at the time dominated by the British, and most books and magazines were imported from England. Shyam Lal Gupta entered the market by publishing two books at a lower cost than the prevailing rates. The first textbook to be published by S. Chand was a "Textbook of Physical Chemistry" by Prof. Bahl & Tuli. The revised edition of the book is still in the market.
In 1960, S. Chand established its own printing press.

The company continued investing in technology, moving from composition and offset printing to computer plate printing.

By this time, Shyam Lal Gupta had gathered fame as one of the pioneers of the Indian Publishing Industry. He was awarded the "
Padma Shri
The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...
" by the Indian Government in 1969 and was elected to the
Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
from
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
in 1972. He was also one of the founding members of the Federation of Indian Publishers, and its first president.
In 1976 S. Chand entered the school textbook market, a segment that it has since come to dominate. Shyam Lal Gupta was initially reluctant because of the sector's long-credit policies, but was persuaded otherwise efforts by his son Ravindra Kumar Gupta. In the 1980s, the company also published comic books like
Chitra Bharti Kathamala
Chitra Bharti Kathamala was a popular Indian comics, Indian comic book publication during the early 1980s. It was the comic publication line of one of the India's biggest publishers of Engineering and technical books - S.Chand and Company Ltd, New ...
, a series that enjoyed moderate success and was fairly popular before being discontinued in the latter part of the decade. Artists such as
Anupam Sinha created popular characters and series such as Detective Kapil, Manas Putra and Space Star before moving on to
Raj Comics
Raj Comics is an Indian comics, Indian comic book publishing, publisher based in New Delhi, India. It had published a line of Indian comics, Indian comic books through Raja Pocket Books since its foundation in 1984 by Rajkumar Gupta, Manoj Gup ...
with
Super Commando Dhruva. In 2006, S. Chand became the first publisher in India to be certified for ISO 9001:2000.
The S. Chand group acquired Vikas Publishing House Private Limited (including Madhubun books) in 2012 for a total consideration of ₹144 crore (₹1.4 billion, or US$26 million), New Saraswati House (India) Private Limited over two tranches in 2014-16 for a total consideration of ₹149 crore (₹1.49 billion, or US$24 million), an
Chhaya Prakashani Private Limited�over two tranches in 2016-19 for ₹235 crore (₹2.35 billion, or US$35 million).
S. Chand and Company had its initial public offering (IPO) on 26 April 2017.
As of August 2022, S. Chand and Company Limited continued to show robust growth, with
EBITDA
A company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (commonly abbreviated EBITDA, pronounced ) is a measure of a company's profitability of the operating business only, thus before any effects of indebtedness, state-mandat ...
up by 158%.
Education services and digital content
In recent years, the group has diversified its offering after stating its aim to be a "knowledge corporation." The various digital initiatives that the company has launched are:
* Learnflix – The company launched "Learnflix," India's most affordable personalized learning app, in January 2020 anchored around the school curriculum for Grades 6 to 10.
* Mylestone – Curriculum solution for schools focused on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India. Also offered online.
* Mystudygear – Provides blended learning with a variety of schoolbooks.
* Destination Success – Enabling digital classrooms (CBSE/ICSE/IB and State Board Schools).
* Smart K – Early Learning Curriculum solutions (preschools).
Test Coach– Focused on government exams market.
* Chhaya Learning App – Bengali/English learning with books.
* VRX – Virtual Reality with books.
S Chand Academy - YouTube Channel
Corporate social responsibility
Shyam Lal Charitable Trust was established by the Shri Shyam Lal Gupta, into which the royalties of the company's 6 bestselling books was divested for furthering the cause of education and medicine. The fund established the Shyam Lal College under the
University of Delhi
The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...
in 1964.
Notable publications
S. Chand uses authors who are well known in their subject areas, including O.P. Malhotra. Since its inception, it has worked with more than 2,400 authors and has delivered more than 15,000 titles for students in
schools
A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...
,
colleges
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...
,
universities
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
and other higher education institutes across
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
and other countries.
Profile
/ref> Some of the notable titles from the company are:
Quantitative Aptitude (R.S. Aggarwal)
Strength of Materials (R.S. Khurmi)
* Principles of Physics (V. K. Mehta)
* Advanced Inorganic Chemistry (R. D. Madan)
* Mathematics Today for ICSE (O. P. Malhotra, S. K. Gupta, Anubhuti Gangal)
* Language of Chemistry or Chemical Equations (G. D. Tuli, P. L. Soni)
* Wren and Martin High School English Grammar & Composition
* Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning (R. S. Aggarwal)
* Nuclear Physics
Indian Economics
Data Structures & Algorithm
* Organisational Behaviour
* Electrical Technology (BL Theraja)
References
{{Reflist
Book publishing companies of India
Publishing companies established in 1939
Companies based in New Delhi
Indian companies established in 1939
Educational publishing companies of India