Simran Khara, CEO

To get more Indians to read books, to encourage more Indians to write and to make books less intimidating were the three driving factors that led to the establishment ofJuggernaut. The inspiration for Juggernaut, a platform to find and read high-quality affordable books was determined by the fundamental understanding of the Indian public who are not such avid readers. The idea was to make books as accessible and available as videos are to the mass. “It was an interesting strategy, from redefining the concept of books to playing around with prices and utilizing the internet boom to push forward the written word. Chiki Sarkar was a well-known figure in publishing and along with Durga Raghunath, this new venture was nothing short of celebrated in the publishing world,” says Simran Khara, CEO.

At Juggernaut, the aim is to create a world-class Indian publishing company that redefines reading and writing for the digital age. The platform boasts of cumulating books of different genres - based on individual interest of readers and writers. “We have some of the biggest publishing houses in the country as our partners and their catalogue is available to all the readers. We also have a writing platform which encourages young fresh writers to showcase their talent. On the platform, we get entries across all genres, so a reader not only gets to read the latest Twinkle Khanna or Devdutt Patanaik but also gets to discover an amateur writer,” she informs.

The primary readers at Juggernaut are between the age of 18-30. The team keeps an online track of the insights and trends as it helps them gauge the way a reader thinks and make necessary modifications in the app if required. “At the end of the day, we are service providers and our sole responsibility is to keep the customer happy,” she smiles.

The Silver Lining
What makes Juggernaut an edge over others is its powerful backing, the founders’ never-back-down attitude and their experience in this industry. Throwing light on this, Simran asserts, “What we do is unlike anyone else in the market.

Even when other publishing houses have digital content, they lack a personal digital platform to put it up on. We have both, and 80 per cent of our books are digital exclusives, only available on the Juggernaut and now Airtel Books app. This gives us a fair advantage in terms of marketing and discounts of these books. We have full authority over the kind of content we push and whom to push it to.”

The company has an airtight contract with all the third parties, authors and publishers alike, which protects their best interests as well as the company’s. In addition, there is an efficient team of editors and HR who handle each author personally and deal with any issues that come up. All of the employees of Juggernaut, past and present have really helped in shaping the company to what it is today. It does not follow a bureaucratic work culture and there is flexibility with the structure so, with a new role, employees get to add some of their personality to the company as well.

Juggernaut is backed by Nandan Nilekani, Boston Consulting Group and Airtel. “All the investors in Juggernaut really do believe in the future of the company and are advisors to us. We rely on their experience and help to make this venture a success,” concludes Simran.