Book piracy thrives in City

Book piracy thrives in City
Deccan Herald

You don’t have to Google-search for the ‘how’s and ‘where’s of the availability of the latest international bestsellers. They are all very much here, illegally printed and sold, sometimes through licensed bookshops!


You don’t have to Google-search for the ‘how’s and ‘where’s of the availability of the latest international bestsellers. They are all very much here, illegally printed and sold, sometimes through licensed bookshops!

According to publishing industry sources, Bangalore is increasingly becoming self-sufficient in pirated books. The October 26 haul of books worth around Rs 1 crore by the Central Crime Branch and previous seizures of printing equipment here point to the fact that the City is moving away from its traditional pirated-book sources in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

According to Balram Sadhwani, Bangalore Booksellers and Publishers Association president, setting up of printing units here works out cheaper for the publishing underworld. “Earlier, pirated books used to be supplied from Hyderabad and Delhi. Now, unauthorised publishers in other cities are setting up units here, to save on transportation costs,” he says.


On an average, it takes an investment of just Rs 20 to illegally print a book priced at Rs 100. Even if the book sells at Rs 40, the seller pockets a neat 100 per cent profit. Bangalore’s illegal publishing industry now largely works on its own steam. When a much-awaited book is about to be released, it gets cracking without delay -- printing a certain number of copies and preparing a City-wise split-up of the ‘demand’.

Authorised floggers?

Mr Sadhwani says pirated books find their way into the ‘mainstream’ through pavement sellers and even through authorised book sellers. “If a book is priced at Rs 500 and a potential buyer tells the salesman his friend had got it for Rs 250 elsewhere, the latter would say that even he has the pirated version at Rs 250,” says he.

Many pavement sellers get their supplies from City-based dealers.

“I’m only paid for manning the stall. The books come from a supplier at Koramangala,” says Junaid at a used-book (UsB) outlet on Church Street. But the UsB facade hardly holds up as the collection mostly comprises reprints — of everything from Catcher in the Rye to The Monk who Sold his Ferrari. Satish, who sells UsBs at Madiwala, says pirated books fetch him close to Rs 500 a day.

Book piracy violates Indian Copyright Act 1957 and can attract imprisonment of up to three years or a fine up to Rs 2 lakh.

Mr Sadhwani, however, says the punishment normally doesn’t exceed 30 days’ imprisonment or Rs 5,000 as penalty.

PIRATE’S PICK

The Indian publishing industry has an annual turnover of Rs 7,000 crore. Book piracy bleeds the industry of Rs 700 crore to 1,000 crore in revenue. School/college textbooks, including those for professional courses, have been traditional favourites with unauthorised publishers.

Reprints of bestsellers normally hit the street within a day or two of the original release. Bestselling pulp (Sidney Sheldons and Jeffrey Archers) continue to be top draws. Kiran Desai’s Booker-bagger Inheritance of Loss is out there -- for just Rs 100, while you can get Gen Musharraf’s In the Line of Fire at Rs 300 or less.

Paulo Coelho, Dan Brown, Edward de Bono, besides self-help books and biographies, are among the easy pickings. Needless to say, pornography sells like hot samosas (reprints of Human Digest and the Penthouse Letters fetch the maximum prices).