FICCI promotes Indian publishing sector at London Book Fair

The London Book Fair opened a “Spotlight on India” series as part of the UK-India Year of Culture celebrations in the two countries. The spotlight marks the first event under this initiative. 

The UK-India Year of Culture follows a joint announcement in 2015 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then British Prime Minister David Cameron of a bilateral initiative to mark India-UK cultural ties and the 70th anniversary of India’s Independence. 

FICCI organised an interactive seminar at the London Book Fair on the theme “How to Access Indian Book Market,” to highlight the opportunities to foreign publishing houses to invest in India. 

Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Chairman, National Book Trust, mentioned about the initiatives that NBT has taken to promote international co-operation in publishing, and also highlighted some of the funding schemes for foreign publishers. 

He emphasised that government is committed to not only create an overall culture of reading but also to provide a conducive environment for book trade to happen. Sumeet Gupta, Director, FICCI, who chaired the session, highlighted the regulatory framework pertaining to the sector and some of the upcoming policy initiatives. He also mentioned that in addition to English, the Indian languages offer prospects for translation. With so much happening in the technology space in India, the time is just opportune for creation of digital content and also to monetize it across multiple platforms, he opined. 

FICCI also launched the “Rights Catalogue of Indian writings” across languages and genres, which has been created in partnership with the London Book fair. It is an endeavour to find business collaborations for Indian publishers and authors with International publishers or distributors across the globe. 

The London Book Fair was held between March 14 and 16.