New Delhi: While the World Book Fair concluded here on Sunday amid a rush of last-minute visitors and a show paying tribute to the cultural diversity of India, one thing that clearly emerged that there are enough readers for books of all subjects. From Religion to Politics and from Sports to Management, there was no subject under sun which fails to attract the attention of readers.

An unofficial estimate said the number of footfalls touched nearly 30,000 on the last three days of the fair. No official numbers were made available. Book lovers thronged the stalls of Jayco, Penguin,Rupa, Hind Pocket Books, Somaiya Publications and others in a big way. Right from common readers to large number of well-known personalities also visited the book fair in a big way.

An official of Somaiya Publications Pvt Ltd. Said that there recent offerings like ‘Spectrum of Jainism in Southern India’ and ‘The Iconic Female; Goddesses of India, Nepal and Tibet’ got huge response from readers. Despite his busy pre-occupation with Commonwealth Games, Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Dr.MS Gill visited the book fair. He was pleased to see his book ‘An Indian Success Story; Agriculture and Cooperative’ getting nice response.

Girish Goel,CEO, SV Book Supply Company, which is part of Hind pocket books, said that they have dearly missed former Prime Minister Mr.Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr.S.K. Somaiya, Chairman of Somaiya Publications in this book fair. Both of them were very regular in Delhi book fair. “ They used to buy lot of books on different subjects in the Delhi book fair. It is really unfortunate that Vajpayee ji is not well and Dr. Somaiya has passed away,” he concludes.

Historian Bipan Chandra, the chairman of the National Book Trust (NBT) which organized the fair and Nuzhat Hassan, the director of the fair, said that the volume of business had doubled compared to 2008 and the participation was more than anticipated. Business in language and Hindi books also boomed, along with publications in English, the NBT officials said.

"The volume of international trade with 35 stalls from 15 countries and business delegations was substantially more than 2008. The bulk of visitors comprised children from not only Delhi and NCR region, but also from places as far as Chandigarh, Karnal, Hapur and Amroha," Bipan Chandra said.Publishers, however, rued poor business citing less money in the market and government squeeze on credit to educational institutions as part of an austerity drive.