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Why Indian books are cheaper
Karachi, Dec 06, 2007: The huge difference in the prices of books in India and Pakistan,
with India selling the books at much lower prices, has caused Pakistanis to
wonder why this is so. The International Book Fair that was open to the visitors
from November 30 to December 4, 2007 presented an opportunity to the citizens of
Karachi to buy Indian and Pakistani books at discounted prices. The book fair
was attended by 21 Indian book sellers and publishers but most of them preferred
to remain in India and sell the books through their Pakistani agents. Paramount
Books (Private), Say Publishing and some other Pakistani publishing houses did
host many Indian publishers. Some publishers from India managed to come to the
book fair despite apprehension about the political situation in Pakistan.
We talked to Sinha Roy, the chief executive officer of New Central
Book Agency, Kolkata, to learn about the huge disparity in the book prices of
the two countries. Roy was of the opinion that the most reason for books being
cheaper in India and a huge number of readers is that "we are a big country with
more than one billion people and a higher literacy rate. The books are printed
in large numbers. Sometimes, many members of the same family buy their own
copies," Roy explained. He gave the example of Kolkata that had one of the best
literacy rates in India. "Kolkata alone accounts for the consumption of a large
number of books. People buy books for their children; students buy their own
books and public libraries too buy thousands of books every month," Roy
elaborated.
Rajkumar Saxena, an executive of the UBS Publishers'
Distributors from Delhi cited nearly the same reasons but added that India had
many paper mills that produced sufficient paper for domestic use. "We do not
have to import printing paper from abroad so it is comparatively cheaper. Our
government understands the value of education and helps the people by levying
minimum taxes on paper. This is the reason that our newspapers are sold for
three or four rupees but in Pakistan they cost 10 or more".
Sameer Mullah
who represented the Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers from Delhi said that in
his opinion, books in Pakistan can be cheaper but some people in high places
create an artificial shortage of paper and cause the prices to increase. "I
don't understand how such a big difference can be possible. It is not because of
imported paper. It is the dishonesty of the people in the bureaucratic circles,"
he added.
Some others at different book stalls thought that the
exorbitant books prices are due to a weak Pakistani currency, as the conversion
from the foreign currencies catapulted the prices. Others disagreed saying that
in India, most of the reading material is locally printed. "Some intellectual
piracy does occur in India but most of the publishers pay royalty to the authors
abroad. Take the example of the Reader's Digest. India has its own edition and
it is very cheap. Pakistan imports the Asian edition from Singapore that costs
much more to the Pakistani readers," an Indian visitor said on the condition of
anonymity.
By Perwez Abdullah (The News)
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