Orient Blackswan Private Limited is an Indian publishing house headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana. It is one of the country's older and larger publishers of academic, educational, and general books in English, with a substantial presence in school textbooks, higher-education titles, and scholarly works in the humanities and social sciences.
| Type | Private limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Headquarters | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
| Former name | Orient Longman |
| Products | School textbooks, higher-education books, academic and scholarly titles, general trade books |
| Languages | English and several Indian languages |
Background
The company traces its origins to Orient Longman, established in India in the mid-twentieth century as an associate of the British publisher Longmans, Green & Co. Over the decades, Indian shareholders progressively took ownership, and the firm developed an independent identity rooted in Indian academic and educational publishing.
In 2008, following the exit of the remaining overseas stake held by Pearson (which had absorbed Longman), the company was renamed Orient Blackswan. The new name retained continuity with the older brand while signalling its fully Indian ownership and identity.
Publishing programme
Orient Blackswan publishes across a wide range of categories:
- School textbooks aligned with CBSE, ICSE, and various state board curricula, including widely used English-language readers and primers.
- Higher-education and academic books in disciplines such as history, political science, sociology, economics, literature, law, and the sciences.
- Scholarly monographs, edited volumes, and reference works, including titles in postcolonial studies, gender studies, Dalit studies, and South Asian history.
- General and trade titles, including biographies, fiction, and translations from Indian languages into English.
The firm has been a long-standing publisher of works by leading Indian historians, social scientists, and literary figures, and distributes for several international academic presses in the Indian market.
Operations
In addition to its head office in Hyderabad, Orient Blackswan operates branch and sales offices in major Indian cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ernakulam, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Visakhapatnam, supporting its educational and trade distribution across the country.
Significance
As one of the established Indian-owned academic publishers, Orient Blackswan occupies a notable place in the country's intellectual infrastructure. Its catalogue has supported generations of school and university students, and its scholarly list has helped sustain Indian-authored research in the humanities and social sciences alongside imprints such as Permanent Black, Sage India, and Oxford University Press India.
Related topics
References
- Wikidata: Q7102284
- Orient Blackswan, official website.