The Pricing Crossroads Legacy Publishers Face

This year is the Assam government's 'Year of Reading'. This declaration of intent came after the Guwahati Book Fair in January totted up ₹7 crore in sales.

- Kajal Basu

It's a good slogan that ignores the fact that every year in India for nearly two decades has been a 'year of reading', with an exploding readership across the linguistic spectrum.

But Assam itself has no creditable publishing industry. The book fair had 15 publishers from Kolkata, 16 from New Delhi, and one from Gurugram—which means that the publishing industry has its roots elsewhere, mostly in the metropolises. India's publishing ecosystem is cartelized.

This is not to diss Assam: it had a modest 118 stalls and a footfall of 5.5 lakh. This year, the Kolkata Book Fair—the oldest in India and the second-largest in the world—had estimated sales of ₹27 crore from 1,057 stalls and a footfall of 29 lakh. The sales numbers from the intricately organised World Book Fair in New Delhi, which had 20 lakh visitors in more than 2,000 stalls, are not yet out, but as always, they are probably somewhat lower than frenetic Kolkata's.

These are mega book fairs, and it isn't entirely evenhanded to compare them with those in smaller cities. Nonetheless, extravagant averments abound, such as the Pune Book Festival's claim that 10 lakh visitors bought 25 lakh books worth ₹40 crore. Meanwhile, others are trying to commercialise themselves by taking the boxable route. The showcase at Jorhat, Guwahati and Sambalpur is on randomised books sold in cardboard crates of various denominations.