Increasing literacy has given Indian newspaper publishers a stay of execution on the demise of print experienced in other parts of the world.

And as a result, forecasts for the coming year put annual growth at eight per cent, most of it coming from the segment which caters for regional local language or vernacular daily newspapers. Those in English are not enjoying the same advances.

Yet smartphone ownership is also leaping ahead, far beyond fixed access internet, something the prospect of seemingly impossibly cheap handsets won't hinder (although it might limit the capacity to handle apps).

So the window of opportunity for printed newspapers continues, but is not infinite. Vernacular publishers such as DB Corp - which claims the world's biggest daily circulation and recently reported "stellar" revenue figures from its flagship titles - are aware of the need to invest in digital publishing, expanding and acquiring sites and mobile products.

Meanwhile, as publishers work to control costs and the impact of variables such as exchange rates and the cost of imported newsprint, the environment continues to favour a print opportunity too attractive to be ignored.

Government moves to allow higher levels of foreign investment are one way in which necessary additional print capacity - and efficiency improvements - may be financed; rules on official advertising which favour publishers which own their presses are another.

Things are tougher than they were - not least because of competition for print advertising - but the statistics are still compelling, leading

IRR, a unit of Fitch Ratings, to forecast growth of ten to 12 per cent in the vernacular news publishing segment, driven by increased literacy rates in regional areas, which passed 69 per cent at 2011's census.

Ninety per cent of India's 1.2 billion population are not English speakers, and this mostly regional market is the one benefitting from higher literacy. While it's reasonable to expect them to follow the global trend to mobile news, printed newspapers - with typically low cover prices - are the immediate beneficiaries.

The challenge for publishers is the familiar one of transferring news brand allegiance, and finding a way to monetize the expanding mostly-mobile market. Nothing new there, except that the market environment continues to provide "breathing space" to make that transition.

Lessons from overseas markets suggest that significant revenue will come, not from charging for content, but through engaging and developing the relationship with readers with e-commerce. India Ratings identifies this as the major growth driver, especially in regional areas.

A new policy for government advertisements in print media - issued by India's advertising and visual publicity directorate in June - is under consideration, with changes recommended by the Press Council during a long meeting last month.

Newspapers would be marked on six criteria, and advertisements "released" on the basis of the points they score out of 100. Changes to three of these - allocating points for audited circulation, using a named wire service, and printing on their own press - were recommended, as well as on a new policy which would see newspapers suspended for "anti-national" or unethical activities.

I'm in Kolkata, ahead of this week's annual WAN-Ifra India conference, with a day to soak up the ambience: Every Indian city has its own character and the conference hotel, the Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista is located alongside an aspirational shopping centre, a destination for couples with dreams and money.

Outside, a handful of cattle are making their way up the busy road, pausing at a bus-stop for shelter from the brilliant sun.

In the lobby, I catch up with the local dailies, sadly only the English-language ones - an indication of the hotel's niche - but still an indicator of the market's health. The power goes down briefly a couple of times and as I write this, presumably as generators or UPS kick in.

A reminder that newsmedia publishing in India is not without its complications comes from the Kashmir valley in northern India, where there were fatalities at the weekend when an army base near the disputed border was attacked.

Newspapers there were shut down in July in a bid to quell violence, with printed copies, plates and newsprint supplies reported to have been taken away. While no newspaper would want to be placed in this situation, the upside of the incident has to be the acknowledgement that in an increasingly digital age, printed newspapers continue to be a major power in newsmedia.

• WAN-Ifra's annual India conference opens in Kolkata this week, beginning with workshop events on waste management, DRUPA and storytelling today. Plenary sessions - with up to three simultaneous streams - begin on Wednesday. Details at http://events.wan-ifra.org/events/wan-ifra-india-2016-conference

Peter Coleman

Pictured: Trouble in a publisher's paradise - unwanted headlines from Kashmir