Patna: Books worth Rs 2 crore have been sold at the Patna Book Fair since last Saturday with Hindi fiction, competitive books and contemporary authors accounting for most of the sale.

"Business worth Rs 2 crore has already been done," said Amit Jha, one of the organisers of the book fair that ends on Monday.

Around 1.5 lakh people have already visited the fair and 60,000 tickets have been sold. But the organisers have said there has been a drop of 25 to 30 per cent in the sale of books and turnout.

New location, enclosed space and lack of publicity, they added, are the reasons for it.

All these years, the fair had been organised in the open at Gandhi Maidan. For the first time this year, the venue shifted indoors, to Gyan Bhavan. The organisers are, however, happy with the success of the new location in attracting people - only genuine book lovers and buyers, they said - and are looking forward to next year.

"The fair acts as a platform for new and old publishers and should not be seen only from the profits point of view. Unlike other items, there are very few writers and publishers who can afford to advertise their works," Amit said.

He said the building where the fair is being hosted is still under construction but still it was chosen as the venue on chief minister Nitish Kumar's request. Nitish had requested Gyan Bhavan to be picked as the venue for awareness to be created about the location. "Maybe, this venue can beat Gandhi Maidan in four to five years," Amit said, adding that most people were impressed by the clean venue.