The New Delhi World Book Fair, hosted at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, is India's oldest book fair after the Kolkata Book Fair. The first New Delhi World Book Fair was held from March 18 to April 4, 1972 in roughly 6790 m2 area with 200 participants. It was inaugurated by V. V. Giri, then President of India.
This annual (previously biennial) event takes place in winters, and is organized by the National Book Trust (NBT), India. Since 2013, New Delhi World Book Fair is organised by National Book Trust (NBT) in association with India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) annually at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi under MOU with ITPO.
Apart from publication, NBT promotes national readership policies and also supports the growing markets of neighbouring countries. The National Centre for Children's Literature (NCCL), a wing of NBT organizes events for children in the Children's pavilion to promote children's literature and the national 'Readers Club' movement.
India is the third biggest market for English publications with almost 12,000 publishers that publish around 90,000 titles a year in more than 18 languages. India's main publishing output is in the various Indian languages. The 2006 NDWBF witnessed 1,294 exhibitors on 38,000 m2 (2004: 1,205 / 32.546) and attracted 1 million visitors including those from foreign countries such as USA, Bangladesh, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Germany.
Delhi is the capital city of Indian Republic and thus has a vibrant culture. This is pretty evident from the fact that various kinds of fairs and festivals are held almost every now and then. No matter what time of the year you visit Delhi; you will find some or other fair or festival being organized. Most of these fairs or festivals are organized to showcase either the Indian culture or its technological advancement. They are organized in various parts of the city and are attended by people coming from different backgrounds and strata. Thus, besides reflecting the cultural, scientific, educational advancement, the fairs and festivals of Delhi bring cohesion among the people.
The foremost and the torchbearer among them is India International Trade Fair (IITF), popularly known as trade fair in Delhi. The Delhi Trade Fair is normally organized in the month of November (14-27). This trade pulls crowd in millions and is arguably one of the largest fair in the world in terms of footfall volume. Besides showcasing products from nearly all the states in India, it has pavilion from nearly 100 countries. This is a one-stop destination to shop whatever you like, literally, from a thing as miniscule as a needle to a thing as gigantic as an Aircraft. Then there is Art and crafts fair that showcases the vivid art and craft of India. There are stalls from nearly all the states with special emphasis on the Tribal art and crafts, fighting the war against extinction.