London: Describing country’s publishing industry as vibrant, the Indian high commissioner to the United Kingdom Shiv Shankar Mukherjee said it is growing at an impressive rate of 30% every year.

“We come out with about 70,000 titles every year,” Mukherjee said last evening at a reception he hosted at India House in the honour of leading writers and publishers on the eve of the three-day London Book Fair, which focuses on India at the Earl’s Court.

Prominent among those present on the occassion included economist and author Lord Meghnad Desai, playwright, actor and filmamaker Girish Karnad, Bollywood actress Shabhana Azmi and her lyricist husband Javed Akhtar, Information Technology czar and author Nandan Nilekani and author Vikram Seth.

The High Commissioner noted that 30% of titles brought out in India were in English and the rest in Indian languages.

“There is tremendous amount of talent in our country,” he said.

Over 50 authors and 90 publishing houses from India are participating in the Book Fair.

Mukherjee, while launching a Amit Gupta’s latest book ‘Indian by Choice’, said “it was a personal pleasure to launch Amit’s book as he was my deputy when I was heading the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in New Delhi.”