Business books go sky high in India

Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys, has signed so many copies of his bestselling book, "Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century," that his wrist is sore, reports the Economic Times.

The first 30,000 copies of "Imagining India" are now nearly sold out and publishers are looking for more – not just from Nilekani but from other Indian business leaders as well.

"Nilekani is actually one of a growing line of CEO-authors that's setting Indian publishing on fire," reports the Economic Times. "The current crop includes R. Gopalakrishnan of Tata Sons, Subroto Bagchi of Mindtree Consulting, Kishore Biyani of the Future Group, all offering up engaging stories in easy to read prose."

Apparently sales are being fueled by global interest in India's economy. In addition, young Indian readers hope to educate themselves by reading about the job market in their own country.

"There's such a world-wide buzz about India these days that everyone wants to write a book on Indian business. We want to promote that," Vivek Gupta, CEO of Wiley India, told the Economic Times.

"Till 2006, the market was thought to be so limited that Wiley only imported business books to India, which only CXOs or companies could afford," he says. "Then we started Indian reprints, at one-tenth of the imported price, and sales soared 20 times in volume. It's the upbeat mood of the economy that has fuelled demand for business books."