Books, encompassing physical or digital publications with written, printed, or illustrated content, serve as diverse mediums, including novels, textbooks, non-fiction works, and poetry collections. They play a pivotal role in sharing knowledge, stories, and information, offering both fictional and non-fictional perspectives. Reading books is a common avenue for knowledge acquisition, entertainment, and exploring varied viewpoints.
In a systematic procurement approach, government agencies release tenders for procurement of books, with a primary focus on meeting educational needs, ensuring the availability of essential materials for schools, colleges, and universities, including textbooks and reference materials. Furthermore, government agencies purchase books to update the public library collections, promoting literacy and knowledge-sharing within communities. Additionally, governments seek to publish their research findings and informational materials on government policy as books. Cultural preservation is another key aspect, with tenders supporting the acquisition of literature reflecting regional heritage. Various reasons, such as specialized knowledge, legal compliance, literacy programs, public awareness campaigns, and international relations initiatives, prompt governments to release book tenders. Likewise, Public Sector Undertakings (PSU), being government-owned entities, also actively participate in book procurement. They seek literature relevant to their specific industries, regulatory guidelines, and corporate governance. Books covering technological advancements, industry-specific research, and management strategies are procured to enhance knowledge within PSUs.
This report provides an overview of book tenders involving the supply of educational textbooks, provision of medical textbooks, purchase of vehicle log books, and provision of transaction books and drawing books. Based on data compiled by Tendersniper from various public sources, Indian government agencies collectively issued 3184 tenders for books last year. Uttar Pradesh contributed 363 tenders, approximately 11% of the total, while Jammu and Kashmir published 319 tenders across sectors such as education and sports, health, rural development, power, infrastructure and planning, social welfare, administration, science and technology, agriculture, IT and telecom, banking and finance, as well as environment and forest. A detailed sector-wise analysis of the book tenders is presented below.
In India, there are numerous education departments for schools and colleges, including 10,22,386 government schools and 82,480 government-aided schools. The education system also comprises 1,043 universities, 42,343 colleges, and 11,779 standalone institutions, emphasizing a strong presence in higher education. The agencies administering the education set-up, such as the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan, the Department of Higher Education published tenders for diverse educational materials, including NCERT textbooks, college library books, materials for classes 1st to 12th (academic session 2024-25), coffee table books and college-level publications. These books are typically distributed by the government to children in government aided schools.
There are multiple Medical Education Departments in India overseeing a total of 703 medical colleges, with 388 categorized as Government/Semi-Government institutions, including prestigious entities like AIIMS and Central Universities/Institutions. Additionally, there are 52 deemed universities, while the remaining 263 are private medical colleges distributed across various states and Union Territories of India. Key organizations within the Medical Education Department, such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, and the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, issued tenders for essential resources within the medical domain. These tenders encompass a diverse range of materials, including medical library books, medical journals, and nursing books.
The Rural Development And Panchayat Raj Department in Maharashtra released tenders for cash books, while the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society published tenders for the printing and supply of Len Den Prapatra (Transaction Book). Jammu and Kashmir PWD issued tenders for the printing and supply of Vehicle log books for snow clearance machinery. The Jharkhand HRD Secretary released tenders for the printing and supply of drawing books under Foundational Literacy and Numeracy. Additionally, the Odisha Computer Application Centre issued tenders for the production of an audiobook of Odisha Royal Palace and rare books.
Though most government agencies seek to purchase printed copies of the books, there is an ever increasing demand for purchase of books in electronic format. The North Eastern Hill University in Meghalaya for instance advertised a tender for procurement of e-Books with proprietary article certificate (PAC). A significant percentage of the books (i.e., 257 of the 4390 tenders) were purchased for their inclusion in the library. Also, the books purchased by the government are for a variety of subjects such as physics, chemistry, medicine and travel. Besides books, many government agencies publish magazine and journal tenders. Quite similar to the library books, there is a significant demand for journals. About 225+ tenders were advertised by the government agencies for purchase of electronic books. Many tenders were advertised for government agency specific handbooks, detailing the procedures to be followed by a specific set of stakeholders as in: pre primary teachers, railway staff, eat right India for Auxiliary Night Midwife, Government e-Marketplace and Defect analysis of certain equipment in use by the Indian army. About 100 tenders were advertised for the supply of newspapers, journals and magazines. Also, government agencies advertised examination answer sheet tenders.
Indian army is the largest purchaser of books in India. It purchased specific book titles such as the Artificial Intelligence in Military, timeless leadership lessons from Bhagavad gita and about various wars as in Normandy to Baltic, Operation Victory and North African Campaign. Besides, the Army sought vendors to supply magazines and newspapers regularly to their various offices spread across the country. The Education department in Gujarat is the next largest buyer of books. It advertised tenders for books used at the college level as in Quantitative analysis, Solar refrigeration, National Building code of India and Basic Electrical Engineering.
As of December 31st, 2023, there are 139 active book tenders listed on the Tendersniper portal. The distribution of these tenders among states is as follows: Jammu and Kashmir issued 27 tenders, constituting 18% of the total, while West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh each published 25 tenders, representing 16%. Maharashtra released 23 tenders, accounting for 15%, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 21 tenders at 14%. Jharkhand contributed 19 tenders, making up 12%, and Gujarat issued 14 tenders, constituting 9% of the overall count.
The in-depth analysis highlights a significant need for book acquisition by government agencies in India. This acquisition process is facilitated through an open tendering system, allowing qualified vendors or suppliers to secure book tenders through the submission of competitive pricing and robust technical proposals.
