CA Media acquires majority stake in Graphic India

The company is focused on creating mythological and superhero characters, comics and stories for the Indian youth market, published across mobile and online platforms. It was launched last year by media entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman as a subsidiary of US-based Liquid Comics.

Graphic India will now be jointly owned by Liquid Comics and CA Media. Devarajan has been appointed CEO of Graphic India and will remain executive chairman of Liquid Comics.

Liquid Comics will contribute its comic book libraries based on Indian characters to Graphic India. In addition to investment, CA Media will partner with Graphic India to create franchises and provide industry expertise.

The partners cited the large potential audience for comic book and animation content in India - the country has more than 500 millions consumers under the age of 25 and more than 850 million mobile phone users.

CA Media India Rajesh Kamat said: “Following our successful entry into the traditional media space, we are very pleased that Graphic India marks our first investment in the digital space. CA Media’s aim is to create an ecosystem of diversified assets across media, where each asset not only unlocks its own value, but also adds to the rest of the portfolio.”

“India is home to some of the most creative minds in the world, and we believe that the next Batman, Harry Potter, Pokemon or The Avengers can come from this country,” said Devarajan.

Graphic India recently partnered with POW! Entertainment and Stan Lee to create an Indian superhero, Chakra The Invincible, for comic books and animation projects.

Liquid’s comic books based on Indian stories and characters include Devi, created by Shekhar Kapur; The Sadhu, created by Gotham Chopra; and Ramayan 3392AD, inspired by the ancient Hindu epic The Ramayana, which is currently being developed as a theatrical live-action film in the US with Mandalay Entertainment.