Gurugram: In January, crowds spilled out of festival tents on Kozhikode’s seafront, jostling their way from one venue to another. The ninth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) pulled in over 700,000 people. Among the 580 speakers this year were astronaut Sunita Williams, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and award-winning author Kiran Desai.
The massive turnout led to the festival bookstore being expanded from one outlet to three, with sales crossing ₹2 crore over five days, excluding revenue from souvenirs and other merchandise. The estimated economic impact generated for hotels, transport services, restaurants, artisans and local businesses is pegged at ₹130 crore, according to KLF officials.
It was not an isolated spike. The Kolkata Book Fair, which concluded in early February, drew a record footfall of 3.2 million visitors, up from 2.7 million last year, with total sales touching ₹27 crore, the organizers said.
At the New Delhi World Book Fair in January, the organizers reported a 20% rise in attendance, while several publishers clocked their highest-ever revenue at the eight-day event. At the 19th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival in January, co-director William Dalrymple noted that over 44,000 books were sold; authors faced some of the longest signing queues in the festival’s history.
The numbers tell a story: India’s book business is booming.
Publishers, bookstore owners, literature festival directors and industry watchers are unequivocal—the current moment appears to be a structural upswing rather than a post-pandemic blip.
According to NielsenIQ BookData and GfK Entertainment’s international study for the first eight months of 2025, more than half of the 19 markets surveyed saw higher book sales revenue than during the same period last year. India led the growth with a 28.6% increase, followed by Brazil (10.8%), Colombia (9.6%) and Portugal (8.4%). During the same period in 2024, India’s revenue grew by 18.3%, and in 2023 (full year) it was relatively slow at 7.1%.
India’s book exports rose from about ₹2,454 crore in fiscal year 2024 (FY24) to ₹2,603 crore in FY25, according to publishing and printing research firm IPPstar. Analysis by market intel platform Grand View Horizon estimates that India’s book market generated revenue of $10.37 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $16.42 billion by 2033, with fantasy the fastest-growing segment.
“After a prolonged period of being locked down during the pandemic, people wanted to step out, browse, discover new voices and new genres. And what better place to do this than bookstores, which saw a renewal of sorts, as well,” said Riti Jagoorie, managing director of publisher Hachette India. “We’ve seen phenomenal growth from 2021 to 2025. We hit sales of over ₹110 crore in 2025 and delivered our best profit performance thus far. We doubled our sales at the Kolkata Book Fair, and we were 12% ahead of last year at the World Book Fair.”
Hachette’s annual sales in 2019, the year before the pandemic, stood at ₹45 crore.
Digital detox
With digital fatigue setting in after years of pandemic-induced screen overload, reading seems to be in vogue once again. “Gadgets have only so much of a lifeline. There’s been a realization about the kind of entertainment people are seeking, and as a result, reading has diversified. We see an overall upswing in many categories: cookery, health, spirituality,” said Kapish Mehra, managing director of Rupa Publications and co-founder of Aleph Book Company.“We have even added two new imprints—Moonstone, dedicated to children’s books, and Sanskriti Press, focused on spirituality and religion, post-pandemic.”
There’s a sense globally that we’ve hit peak digital overload. Attention spans are fragmented and people are craving deeper engagement again, said Anish Chandy, founder of Labyrinth Literary Agency. The momentum has also been fuelled by the significant buzz around big-ticket books by Indian authors that have a global platform, including Arundhati Roy for Mother Mary Comes to Me, Kiran Desai for The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny and Banu Mushtaq for Heart Lamp.
The Indian publishing industry is in a phase of steady growth, driven by strong readership and continued demand for quality content across genres, said Manoj Satti, senior vice president– product, sales and marketing, Penguin Random House India. “Our experience over the past year has been particularly positive, with double-digit year-on-year growth in sales at major book fairs,” he added. “The national and global recognition for Indian authors reflects sustained creative depth and growing international interest in Indian stories. Awards are helping bring wider visibility and strong readerships.”
While English language publishing continues to do well, regional language publishing is seeing renewed energy. The Malayalam novel Ram C/O Anandhi by Akhil P. Dharmajan, for example, sold 300,000 copies in 12 months. There are more takers for versions in other languages, too.
“There is a renewed interest in translations, with readers going out of their way to seek out regional and local publishers, periodicals and books. The non-fiction boom is visible in books about food and culture too,” said Aparajitha Sankar, owner of the independent, family-run Bengaluru bookstore Atta Galatta, which focuses on stocking Indian writing in English and books in over 12 Indian languages.
“There is a huge misconception that people are reading less. Our footfall has increased 20–25% since 2024,” she said.
Catching them young
While fiction once accounted for about 21-22% of the market and non-fiction dominated at nearly 60%, there is now a visible tilt towards fiction, driven largely by younger readers, said Penguin Random House India’s Satti.
A new mass market is also being shaped by influencer-authored books, such as those by YouTuber and actor Prajakta Koli, whose debut novel Too Good to Be True topped Indian adult fiction charts last year, selling over 200,000 copies.
The definition of ‘celebrity’ in the books business has widened. “It used to mean Bollywood stars, cricketers or politicians. Now it could be someone in baby care, wellness or finance. The book industry mirrors what’s happening in society, and society is creating new kinds of celebrities,” said Chandy.
Social media has changed both who gets marketed and, increasingly, who gets published. “Publishers are more open to authors who come with a sizeable following, especially in categories like self-help or practical non-fiction,” he added.
A younger demographic is driving much of this growth. According to the Nielsen Books & Consumer Study (July 2024-March 2025), readers aged 16–24 account for approximately 37% of print book purchases, making Gen Z one of the single largest readership cohorts in the country.
“The interest level in books is also fuelled to some extent by shows and films. Before ‘Bridgerton’, for example, we were selling 700-900 copies a year of Julia Quinn’s books in India. After the show, that jumped to 10,000-15,000 copies a year. The series just changed the game,” said Hachette India’s Jagoorie.
Even at literature festivals, young readers form a significant share of the audience. “It is particularly encouraging that 65% of our audience is under 35, alongside steadily growing participation from across India, Europe, the Middle East, North America and the global diaspora,” said Ravi Deecee, publisher and managing partner of DC Books, and founder of the Kerala Literature Festival.
Drawing readers in
Even as books sell well, the retail base remains smaller than it was pre-covid. “Many stores shut during the pandemic, and some chains restructured. What must be commended is the work put in by the indies—they’ve strengthened their curation, done in-store events, and found innovative ways to bring readers in,” said Jagoorie.
Among the bookstores that had to close temporarily were Full Circle in New Delhi and Idiom in Kochi, although they reopened in other locations. Book store chains such as Crossword and Higginbotham’s have since restructured their retail outlets.
Independent bookstores are reinventing themselves. At Atta Galatta, for example, curated programming—book launches, literary meet-ups, magazine-making workshops and even a food-and-literature club—draws steady weekend crowds.
“Simply putting books on shelves isn’t enough anymore. We also stage theatre performances in our 100-seater venue. It keeps the space alive and people invested,” said Sankar. “Grandparents come in with their Gen Alpha grandchildren, looking for books in Kannada to read to them. Millennial parents make a conscious effort during school holidays and weekends to let their children browse and build a reading habit,” she said.
Even for publishers, profitability is being driven by sharper curation, better forecasting and focused marketing rather than sheer volume. “We are not dramatically increasing the number of titles, but are publishing more intentionally, with clearer positioning and longer-term thinking. Overall, the industry has seen mid-single to low-double-digit growth over the past 12-18 months,” said Rahul Srivastava, managing director, Bloomsbury India.
“Though revenues are going up, costs of printing, paper and logistics have also risen. It is a price-sensitive space, so we continue to run a tight ship,” said Mehra of Rupa Publications. “We manage rising costs by diversifying, making better marketing selections, and gaming the efficiency matrix.”
The cost of paper, for example, has gone up from ₹75 to ₹140 a kilo post pandemic, he added.
With books competing against online content, marketing has had to evolve. One size does not fit all. Business titles, for instance, are often marketed via targeted professional and entrepreneurial communities, and on LinkedIn. Literary and popular fiction fare better on Instagram.
“With fragmented attention spans, we need to be more innovative. Book events need to be curated well, based on who and where your core audience is,” said Rachna Kalra, founder of WindWord, a book marketing and communications consultancy. Collaborations work well, she added, whether partnering with other authors or moderators who bring their own audiences, or working with specific communities and venues that align organically with the title.
Discovering books
Another change is how books are discovered: it is now more participatory and community-driven. “While traditional channels like bookstores and literary festivals remain important, a lot of engagement now happens through social media, book clubs, etc. These platforms have become powerful because they create a conversation and connection, rather than just a transactional relationship between reader and book,” said Srivastava.
Even though digital content has, in some ways, eaten into reading time, it is also fuelling growth and expanding visibility for a wider range of titles, including literary fiction, translations and niche non-fiction.
Bookstagrammers, book influencers, book clubs and even celebrities are playing an important role in introducing books to new audiences. “Overall, the publishing ecosystem in India has become more vibrant and interconnected, with community-led spaces, festivals and digital platforms complementing traditional discovery channels. Culturally and economically, there is a shift towards more engaged, value-driven reading,” said Satti.
From celebrity-led platforms such as Sonali Bendre’s Book Club and Twinkle Khanna’s Tweak Book Club to thousands of smaller city-based literary collectives, these communities are helping sustain interest—often turning a single recommendation into a broader, longer-term conversation, publishers have found.
Kalra, who set up the Delhi-NCR branch of the Silent Book Club in September 2019 with seven-eight members, recently crossed 1,900 members. “I see many similar book clubs coming up across cities. There is more attention on books today. There are new libraries, too, like the Coforge Public Library in Gurgaon, and book corners at various cafés and cultural spaces,” she said.
“With so much heavy news around, readers seem to want something lighter and more comforting. Even in non-fiction, the books that work best are those that offer a clear learning or takeaway, particularly titles written by high-level professionals and corporate leaders,” Kalra added.
Another community reading initiative is the Mumbai Literary Club, founded by Bhumika Sankhla and Malliketh Nagda, a management consultant and a banker, respectively, who host a book swap and a book club every month, along with author talks.
“There is a real hunger for book clubs and for being with like-minded people. As reading became lonely during the pandemic, we decided to start a book swap in 2022, where every member would pitch a book to the group, and then everyone picks up a book from the pile,” said Nagda.
The club now averages around 40 participants at offline meets, hosted at White Crow Books & Coffee in Jio World Drive.
By all accounts, books are finding new life in India in the digital age, through a younger generation of readers, publishers and authors. A thriving litfest circuit, well-curated bookstores, and reading communities rediscovering the simple pleasures of turning a page bear testament to this heartening reality.