If you are a publisher based in India, or even an author applying for an ISBN, chances are you have encountered a rather long-drawn, tedious process to apply for an ISBN through an online portal provided by the Ministry of HRD (MoHRD), Government of India. While a step in the right direction, the process itself hasn’t been smooth and has led to many publishers complaining about the long waiting period that they have to go through before their application is approved, not to mention confusion over the documents that need to be submitted for the application to be approved. Further, unlike earlier, where an entire block of 10 or 100 ISBNs were allotted to the publisher, this new process requires the publisher to apply for each ISBN separately. A few of us, publishers, have submitted a memorandum to the MoHRD, and the authorities, in turn, have agreed to look into the issues that were raised. If you wish to be represented (the memorandum highlights the issues of publishers alone, not authors), write in to us so we can include you in our discussions. You can email [email protected] for more details.