Anantha is the Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers India. Since he was appointed CEO, the company has grown its revenues and expanded its publishing footprint in English-language publishing in India. Strategic initiatives included investing in new categories and voices, imprints, and new capabilities. The company’s strategic partnerships with various publishers, both Indian and international, and strong relationships with booksellers and distributors across the subcontinent have been instrumental in HarperCollins’ growth story. HarperCollins is India’s most awarded publisher and has been awarded the Publisher of the Year Award six times.

Collins Learning, the education publishing division of HarperCollins, continues to be the fastest-growing educational publisher in India. Collins Learning publishes across a range of subjects, including ELT, Maths, Science, Computer Science, award-winning Dictionaries and Atlases and digital teacher resource materials for the Kindergarten to Grade 10 age groups. In 2020, the division introduced a portfolio of digital products, including Collins Infinity, Collins Evaluate, Collins Perfect Assessments, and Collins Digital Home Learning, to reach the millions of school-going kids impacted by the pandemic. Over 6 million students in over 10,000 schools between kindergarten to Class 10 learn through Collins Learning teaching materials every day.

Ananth is Co-Chair of the Publishing Committee within FICCI. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Publishers in India (API). He is actively involved in policymaking that enables a level playing field for Indian publishing, championing inclusion and diversity, protecting authors against copyright and territorial infringement and fighting digital and print piracy in the market.

Ananth has spent over three decades in bookselling and publishing. In 1992, he began his career at a bookstore in Chennai, India, where he discovered his love for books.