The New Delhi World Book Fair 2025 saw a record footfall of over two million visitors, highlighting India’s growing love for the written word, believe organisers as well as writers and readers who attended the nine-day-long annual literary gala. There was plenty of jostling and elbowing as book enthusiasts flocked to Bharat Mandapam, the venue for NDWBF 2025 from February 1-9, to catch a glimpse of the authors they admire or to hunt for their next favourite page-turner.
Featuring over 2,000 publishers and exhibitors, including the giants in Hindi and English publications such as Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury, Raj Kamal Prakashan, and Vani Prakashan, the event pulled out all the stops to make the event a haven for book lovers.
“Republic@75”, the theme this year, served as a platform for the event to explore the country’s cultural heritage and its aspirations for the future. It proved to be a hit among the readers — young and old alike.
“The NDWBF started in 1972, and from that year, the ever-increasing response from the people of Delhi is what we expected, and we are getting it as well. This time, the footfall was excellent, extraordinary, and my prediction is—though the exact official numbers are yet to be released—that we will cross 25 lakh. This is great. The footfalls have increased by almost 20 per cent compared to last year.
“This only shows that the reading habit in India is not declining at all. In fact, it is increasing, and the publication market is also growing at an 18 per cent rate.” National Book Trust (NBT) chairman prof. Milind Sudhakar Marathe told PTI.
With people from all walks of life attending the much-loved fair’s 32nd edition, publishing houses noted that the literary choices of buyers was a diverse mix, with everything from fiction and non-fiction to self-help, sci-fi, and children’s books finding their audience.
For instance, Penguin Random House India (PRHI) witnessed a major bump in the sales figures of its fiction works from previous years along with a spike in demand for books by Indian authors such as Akshat Gupta’s “The Hidden Hindu” and “The Naga Warriors”, Nona Uppal’s “Fool Me Twice” or Srishti Chaudhary’s “Lallan Sweets”.
“It is a mixed bag. People are buying everything that we have offered them. But if I have to pick up things that are moving better than another, fiction, of course, is a lot better than I had seen in the past. Apart from fiction, I see a lot of self-help, personal development and better me (books), trending… I have also witnessed a lot more in take of Indian writings this time,” said Manoj Satti, senior vice-president (sales & products and division head) at PRHI.
Bloomsbury India’s Meenakshi Singh said she can’t put a finger on one particular genre as avid readers bought everything from fiction to non-fiction and all sorts of genres in between.
That said, she listed bestsellers from non-fiction –William Dalrymple’s “The Golden Road”, Shiv Khera’s “Live While You’re Alive”, and Dr Shiv Sarin’s “Own Your Body” .
The publishing house’s all time favourite Harry Potter series, with a host of attractive box-sets and enticing discounts, was a hot-seller this year too.
“Box sets, in general, are doing quite well. Be it MinaLima edition box set of Harry Potter novels or Sarah J Maas box-set. I have lost count of the number of people I met at the book fair who were busy collecting each and every edition of Harry Potter novels that we have published,” added Singh, head of marketing and publicity at Bloomsbury India.
The fair, like previous years, also featured a notable participation of authors, speakers, and books from 50 countries and international languages in the famed International Pavilion.
For example, Russia, which was designated as the focus nation, showcased an impressive collection of 1,000 books through its “Books from Russia” initiative.
Amish, who was among the celebrated speakers at the festival on its concluding day, was impressed by the number of people who have turned up for the event. He called the NDWBF a “national treasure” for its work towards encouraging reading habits.
“What’s beautiful about India is that while in many other parts of the world the reading habit is actually going down — not just books, but newspapers, many of them are actually dying. In India, there is a massive revival. That’s fantastic to see,” said the author of the bestselling ‘Shiva Trilogy’ and the ‘Ram Chandra Series’.
Besides selling books, the literary event also hosted several insightful talks under the multiple literature festivals, including ‘Brahmaputra Literature Festival’, ‘Prabhat Prakashan’, ‘Bharat Literature Festival’, ‘Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival’, ‘Penguin Dialogues’ and the ‘Great Indian Book Tour’, that were held as part of the fair.
There was plenty for the readers who didn’t want to splurge a huge amount on books. Asma, a visitor and many like her, sifted through stacks of books to find their favourite in the remaindered books section.
“I have always liked reading, and the book fair is the best place to find books that are cheap. So, first, we went to Hall 5 and entered Penguin and other shops, where each book was priced at Rs 699 and similar rates. Then, we went to second-hand book stalls, and although it was time-consuming and crowded, we managed to get a bag full of books,” said the college student, proudly flaunting the rare edition of James Joyce’s 1916 classic “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”.
The fair, which came to a close on Sunday, had free entry for all on the last weekend.
