The Mumbai Bookseller and Publishers Association (MBPA) is leaving no stone unturned to convince publishers and retailers to stop approaching institutions directly to sell the books, as the practice is hitting their business hard. While no new book store has come up in the city in the last many years, the existing ones are also on the verge of shutting down as students don't visit to buy books anymore.
The association claimed that with the institutions buying books from publishers, suppliers, distributors or retailers directly, the government was losing a lot of revenue as well.
Deepak Sheth, MBPA vice-president and director of Sheth Publishers, said, "Not a single new bookstore has come up in the market in the last seven years. Parents and students do not come to bookstores to buy books any more. When the retailers or publishers directly sell books to the institutions, then not just the bookstore owners, but even the government suffers losses in the form of revenue and income tax. We have held four to five meetings with the publishers, retailers and distributors in this regard. While the publishers have agreed to stop this practice, we are yet to convince the retailers."
MBPA will soon form a committee that will make a list of institutions that buy books directly deal from the publishers and retailers. MBPA president Narendra Nandu said, "Our first agenda is to convince other retailers, distributors and suppliers to be a member of our association. This will help us to work for the benefit of all the booksellers in the market. The proposed committee will make a list of do's and dont's for distributors, suppliers and retailers."
Earlier, the association had gone up in arms against the government when the local body tax (LBT) was being levied upon the textbooks. After the association's protest, however, the government took back the decision. The association also organises raids on places where copies of textbooks are made.
MBPA secretary Jugal Dedhia said, "We don't want anybody to make losses. If this practice of selling books directly stops, then everyone will make a profit."
There are nearly 700 retailers in the city. As many as 278 members are registered with MBPA, including publishers, distributors, retailers and bookstore owners. The association was established in the 60s. Another association – Association of Publishers And Distributors (APAD) – was established in 2012 and has 60 members.
