Discover how Gita Press became India's largest publisher in terms of volume, despite being a non-profit organization

on Jul 14, 2023

A publishing house that began a century ago in Gorakhpur, founded by Marwari businessmen with a religious passion, has grown to become India's most prominent publisher in terms of volume potentially. This success has been achieved through the publisher's low prices and the unwavering devotion of its founders and managers, without the need for any aggressive sales tactics.

A non-profit publishing house called Gita Press, which offers affordable Hindu religious books, has been honored with the 2021 Gandhi Peace Prize by the government in recognition of their community service. Despite being offered a prize of Rs 1 crore, Gita Press has declined to accept it due to their policy of not accepting donations.

According to data on its website, Gita Press has published more books than any other Indian publishing house. In its 100 years, it has published 41.7 crore books, meaning there is roughly one Gita Press book for every three Indians. Although not every third Indian may have purchased a book from Gita Press, their books have become a popular household item among Hindi-speaking people, with many owning at least one.

Gita Press, a publishing house, has sold a total of 417 million books. The Bhagavad Gita, which was the inspiration behind the establishment of the publishing house, accounts for 162.1 million copies sold. Goswami Tulsidas' works, including the Ramcharitmanas, Ramayana in Awadhi dialect, and Hanuman Chalisa, have sold 117.3 million copies, with the lowest-priced edition being sold for Rs 2. The publishing house has also published 110 million books for children. It offers books in 14 languages and has expanded to selling books online, boasting a collection of over 3,000 books on its website.

Gita Press is able to maintain its low prices by directly purchasing raw materials from industries without adding extra costs like infrastructure to the price. Additionally, they do not receive any donations, accept advertisements for their periodicals, or advertise their business in the media. Word of mouth serves as their primary marketing strategy. Most of their managers and workers are dedicated to spreading the Hindu religion. Gita Press has employed popular evangelists, known as katha vachak, who promote their literature in villages without receiving any salary. However, due to their ultra-low prices, Gita Press is unable to recover all its production costs through book sales alone. They cover their losses by selling clothes and medicines at Geeta Vastra Vibhag, their clothes unit, and Gita Ayurveda, the unit that sells medicines.