The CRD Patna Book Fair will take place from 8 to 18 November 2019 at Gandhi Maidan, Patna. The theme for this year is ‘Per, Paani, Zindagi’ (tree, water, life). Visitors to the book fair will find books, journals, magazines, stationery items, and several other educational supplements on display.
The Patna Book Fair invites intellectuals, readers, students and book lovers to indulge in several activities. There will be book launches, seminars, workshops, street plays, classical music programs, competition for schools and colleges, celebrities from art and culture, and health-related programs.
The event will provide the participants with an opportunity to generate business from the retail customer as well as institutional customers. The unused funds that were allotted by the Education Department to Indian institutions for the purchase of books for their library can be used here to make fresh purchases and add value to the libraries.
The timings of the Patna book fair are 11 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and other holidays. The ticket for general visitors is Rs. 10 while entry is free for school students dressed in their uniforms provided the school principal requests the same beforehand on the school’s letterhead. Entry is also free for college students from recognized government colleges and the timings for them are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (only on weekdays). Entry will be granted based on the ID cards issued by the college. No private college ID will be allowed.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
