India Today Group reverses salary reductions of print staff

India Today Group has announced that it will reverse the salary reductions of all employees of Living Media India, which operates the group’s print magazines.

Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group, made this announcement in an internal communication sent to all LMI staff.

Purie began his letter by acknowledging how the salary reductions were inevitable due to disruptions caused by Covid-19 in an already struggling magazine industry.

He wrote, “The reduction of salaries, which we were compelled to do in June 2020, was the most painful decision I've had to make in the 46 years I have worked in India Today. As you know, even before the pandemic, the magazine industry was under severe stress. With the economy contracting, advertising, our primary source of revenue, virtually collapsed, plus distribution was impacted due to corona lockdowns. The only way to survive was to reduce costs. I thank everyone for working together through the crisis undeterred.”

The salaries are being rolled back to pre-Covid levels without full recovery revival in the magazine business in the foreseeable future.

“You have shown courage, resourcefulness, forbearance and ingenuity. We have not missed a single issue and maintained the quality our readers expect from us. While we are nowhere near pre-Covid levels, or expect to be there in the foreseeable future, we must move on and adjust to a new reality. I have faith in our strong brands, content, our team's belief in the magazine and our will to succeed,” Purie wrote.

“Therefore, over and above the Ex-Gratia Award given recently, I have decided that salary reductions for all LMI staff shall be reversed, effective September 1st, 2021,” he announced.

Expecting more advertisers to see value and pose their faith in magazines, Purie said, “Despite the churn in the media landscape, magazine stories have a profound and lasting impact. Advertisers see that too. I hope more will.”

“I am pleased to note that we have lived up to what I said in a Letter from the Editor on our 25th anniversary, 'Men age, magazines don't’. The good times will return. They have to. We will all then progress and prosper with our magazines,” he concluded and thanked all staff for their commitment.

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