Founder chief executive of Attano Media & Education Pvt. Ltd — a Mumbai-based company that creates digital content products for primary and supplementary education — Soumya Banerjee was among the first to discern that in an era where tablets, smartphones and general integration of electronics have become part of everyday life, books need to go digital as well.

A computer science postgraduate of the University of Houston, Banerjee lived and worked in the US for over a decade before returning to India in 2000 to join Sapient India as managing director. In 2009, he started Attano, funded by venture capital firm Helion Venture Partners, to publish education e-books in India. The company uses advanced technology to digitise interactive supplementary content, delivered via cloud computing to owners or users of tablets, mobile devices and smart boards.

Newspeg. In April 2012, Attano launched EDU TV, which provides educational videos sourced from the internet to students, parents and educationists. A national panel of teachers selects and curates the best videos available on the worldwide web which are marketed through EDU TV. These videos mapped with Indian school curriculums, are free of charge and can be browsed on the company’s website. “This will save students’ time by giving them instant access to videos of their choice on a single platform,” explains Banerjee.

Direct talk. “We offer more than just digitised books. We ensure each graph and diagram co-relates with the text whereas current e-books only provide the text format. Our technology maintains the look and feel of a textbook with built-in analytics. Our technology is simple, effective and scalable and helps students learn more efficiently while providing teachers and parents real-time information on how well students understand the content. Moving from printed textbooks to digital media gives students the opportunity to do research, upgrade their work and measure their learning as tests and assessments are built into our e-books,” says Banerjee.

Business model. Attano Media’s e-books are priced at least 20 percent below paper texts since “the physical production cost of paper, binding and shipping will disappear”. “Paper-based textbooks are not only expensive but heavy and require storage space. They cannot be updated or modified without issuing a whole new edition, whereas e-textbooks can be continuously updated and read through text, video and audio media,” says Banerjee.

Future plans. Banerjee believes Attano Media is on the right track and moving smoothly. “The company is poised to be a leader in the e-textbooks space as prices of tablets and PCs are lowering by the day, and the world is moving from paper to digital learning in a big way. This is a positive trend as people can spend less to learn more,” says Banerjee.

Power to your elbow!

Praveer Sinha (Mumbai)