Kolkata book fair organisers mull community card swipes

Organisers of the coming 41st International Kolkata Book Fair are mulling introduction of community point of sale (POS) counters to aid small Bengali publishers post-demonetisation.

Organised by the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the 12-day long event will be inaugurated at Milan Mela grounds on the eastern fringes of the city on January 25.

"The bigger names in publishing, including in Bengali, are used to card swipe machines. But the problem is with the small Bengali publishers. They are saying they are not used to it," Tridib Chatterjee, Honorary General Secretary of the Guild, told IANS.

"So we are in talks with a bank to introduce community card swiping where groups of stall owners will be able to use a common POS device," he explained.

The fair is pegged as the "largest open-air book fair under the sun having a footfall of over two million in just 12 days."

--IANS

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