With no counter sale, Delhi publishers mull selling books online

Publishers in Delhi are considering selling books online despite the government approval for opening of the school books and stationery shops in the national capital and the other states.

The publishers in the Ansari Road area of Daryaganj, which houses various national and international publishers, feel that though the approval to open the book shops has been given but still the buyers are not coming out.

The Ansari Road area was closed completely till lockdown 3.0 and now it has been opened after the government gave approval to standalone shops.

Rohit Mathur, who runs a store of national and international books of medical, said, "The government has given the permission to open the shop. We are taking all the precautions. The buyers are still not coming to the market."

"I and many other store owners have decided to sell books online as there is no counter sale. We have approached many e-commerce websites and agents regarding the same," he added.

Another shopkeeper P.G. Singh, who runs an engineering book store here, said: "We opened our store many days after lockdown 3.0 was lifted. We know that the counter sale in the market is almost zero at the moment, so now we are training our staff for online sales. We have also informed our clients across the country about it."

Apart from medical, engineering, economics, history books, the Ansari Road also houses stores of many international publishers. The publishers of books which are used in most of the private schools in north India, including Delhi, also run their establishments from here.

D.N. Kanyal, who publishes books for private schools, said: "Hundreds of schools have not yet taken the delivery of the books as they are still closed. Even if they take the books from the publishers, it won't be possible for the parents to go to the schools and buy books at the moment."

According to Kanyal, with transportation of books allowed in lockdown 4.0 it was possible to send books from one place to another. However, better transport system is also required to ensure online delivery of books.

"It seems that if the situation becomes normal now, we can at least ensure the supply of school syllabus books in the coming days," Kanyal added.

• India