“We have been receiving requests from the Indian publishing houses that they wanted to be relocated to Hall 8. The premise of the request has been that since a large number of Indian publishers are active in English language content, it would be in their interest to be placed in the same hall. Historically, we have been allocating them space with Asian publishers. We will also include a breakfast session that will help in match-making between Brazilian and Indian publishers,”said Claudia Kaiser, vice president, business development, Frankfurt Book Fair.

Commenting on the issue, Kailash Balani, managing director, Aditya Books and immediate past president of FPBAI said, “Hall is 8 is very important as all major UK publishers exhibit there and therefore, having a booth there gives lot of visibility to publishers, so good to be there and you feel part of international publishers.”

At the same time there are few publishers who have shown apprehensions about how beneficial this change would be for Indian publishers. Urvashi Bhutalia, publisher, Zubaan Books during her presentation at the Publishers’ Training Programme organised by German Book Office and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad had a lengthy discussion about the issue. She had said, “I am yet to understand how this would help the publishers.”

Gita Wolf, publisher, Tara Books has been associated with Frankfurt Book Fair for past 17 years. “Since Tara Books has a UK company as well, we have always been part of Hall 8. However, we also have separate stands in Hall 4 where we showcase of stationary, art and design portfolio. Being part of Hall 8 has helped as it is easy for the visitors and rights buyers to identify with your books,” she said.

The 2012 fair hosted over 7,300 exhibitors from around 100 countries, attracting 2,81,753 visitors. In the same year, an Indian contingent comprises of about 60 exhibitors includes many companies like Delhi Press, Gopsons Papers, International Print O Pac, Jayant Printeries, Manipal Technologies, Multivista, Navneet Publications, Nutech Print Services, Parksons Graphics, Replika Press, Repro India, Srinivas Fine Arts,  and plus  trade associations like CAPEXIL had booked their space. This year, it is expected to be a bigger show, with several leading players planning to be part of the show both as exhibitors and as visitors.