Mills & Boon head for India

Her spine tingled when she saw him turn his steely gaze on her before striding across the room to where she stood, his chiselled jaw, bronzed skin, and thick black mane making heads turn.

	A generation of urban women have devoured Mills & Boon’s romantic fiction since the days of the Raj

"I think we have met. My name is Arun Kumar," he said. Er...Arun Kumar? Yes, the tall dark and handsome hero of Mills & Boon just got a shade darker last week with the Indian launch of the century-old publishing house.

A generation of urban, educated women have devoured Mills & Boon's romantic fiction since the days of the Raj, but only through Indian lending libraries and the limited number of titles exported here.

Now the publisher, which sells four books across the world every second, has tied up with an Indian company to publish its novels here and distribute them at supermarkets and newspaper kiosks for just 99 rupees (£1.30).

It also plans to launch an Indian series later this year — stories set in India, about Indians, by Indians. The aim is to conquer the hearts of 300 million English speakers with its romantic fiction.

Andrew Go, head of Indian operations of Harlequin Mills & Boon, owned by Canadian giant Tristar, believes that India could become its largest market. Many Indian women will welcome Mr Go with open arms.

For a generation of teenagers at convent schools or at college, "MBs" (as they are fondly known) were staple fare, passed around from girl to girl and often read in one sitting. "I loved them," recalled businesswoman Anuradha Kapoor, 50.

"They let you escape into a fantasy world. I had favourite authors and favourite jacket colours." In this deeply conservative society, Mills & Boon romances are still one of the only resources available to girls seeking information about sex and romance. Moreover, since many of them are heading for arranged marriages, reading the books is the closest they can get to experiencing the headiness of falling in love and being pursued.

For economist Renu Aggarwal, the "Britishness" of the books also appealed. "As Indians, we know all about caste divisions getting in the way of love. I could relate to the lack of social mobility, the rigid class system that stopped men and women marrying outside their class," she said. India is not a great book-reading country. Any book that sells 3,000 copies is hailed as a bestseller. But with the middle class - call centre workers among them - enjoying more disposable income than ever before, Mills & Boon believes that Indians will start buying more books.

At a pavement book stall in New Friends Colony suburb, maths student Neha Bannerji scanned second hand copies of Virgin Slave, Bedded for the Italian's Pleasure, and The Sheikh's Convenient Virgin. "You know the characters and what's going to happen. It's easy and comforting. It's like a Bollywood movie, only you can read it anywhere," she said. The similarity between Mills & Boon and the slushy, escapist romances of Bollywood has given Mr Go extra reason to be confident: "Look at the average Bollywood storyline. Boy meets girl; they fall in love. Obstacles. Conflict. Happy ending. That's what our novels offer, and they're half the price of a cinema ticket."

Indians will be treated to 10 titles a month, beginning with UK-based author Penny Jordan's Virgin for the Billionaire's Taking, set in India with an Indian hero, a billionaire property developer whose brother is a maharajah. Later this year, stories by Indian authors will be launched. Though set in India, they will follow the company's global policy of avoiding controversial issues such as Hindu-Muslim marriages, caste and dowry.

The company's research into Indian readers' preferences has revealed an appetite for sexually explicit stories. But it intends only gradually to introduce its raunchier "Blaze" series featuring oral sex, bondage, and lesbian relationships, not least because their dust jackets could offend conservative Indians.

"I am told that if a girl on the metro sits reading a book with a suggestive cover, men will look at her and question her morals," said Mr Go. Titles such as Preparing for a Bedding, not a Wedding would raise eyebrows on an Indian bus or train, even without a bawdy cover. New dust jackets, featuring women in saris and classic Indian backdrops, are now being drawn for the whole series - gentle and racy novels alike. Mr Go says that he might eventually link up with a Bollywood studio to film a Mills & Boon novel. For slush-loving Indians, that really would be a marriage made in heavenn