The 2025 Kolkata International Book Fair attracted a record 2.7 million people during its 12-day event from January 28 to February 9, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild said.
Guild President Tridib Chatterjee said books worth ₹250 crore were sold till Sunday morning, and the final sales would be even higher. Another Guild member, Apu Dey, said all 1,000 bookstalls would provide data on which the final sales figure would be calculated.
Chatterjee said the number of visitors was the highest for a 12-day event. Compared to the 14-day 2024 event, which had attracted 2.9 million people and ₹270 crore worth of sales, this year’s event proved phenomenal in spite of being short.
Addressing the closing ceremony, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu said the Frankfurt Book Fair may be the world’s biggest, but Kolkata’s event, with huge figures and such a craze, can be Asia’s biggest, if not the world’s. State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Aroop Biswas, said the beauty of printed books was that even now, students love them, and presenting a book as a gift is still an old, highly respected tradition.
On the next event, Chatterjee said while dates had not been finalised, the 2026 Kolkata Book Fair would be held between late January and early February, the dates of which would be announced in due course.
Kolkata Book Fair 2025 Draws Record 2.7 Million Visitors, Sales Hit ₹250 Crore
