New Delhi : Works on Islam and Buddhism are a big hit at stalls put up by publishers from South Asian countries at the World Book Fair here. Many avid book readers and scholars are happy to have spotted rare books that are not easily available in India.

At the pavilion for foreign exhibitors at the 19th New Delhi World Book Fair, two stalls by a private publisher from Pakistan and the Iqbal Academy Pakistan are doing brisk business although the government-aided National Book Foundation of Pakistan pulled out of the book exhibition which culminates on Feb 7.

"On the first two days, we saw good business, on the third day there was less crowd but we have picked since then. We have mostly students, scholars, booksellers coming to us, asking us for books on Islam, Sufism, Pakistan's history," Saira Bano from the Royal Book Company told the media.

Many scholars and even maulvis made their way to the stall by Iqbal Academy of Pakistan for rare books not available easily in India. "I came looking for this book on Iqbaiat (poetry by Pakistan's reknowned poet Iqbal) which I couldn't find here. I have found it here," said Sijad, a student of Islamic Studies at Delhi University.

A maulvi, who did not want to be identified, said: "The fair is a good place to find rare interpretations of the Quran and other Islamic texts." Apart from the prominent stalls from Pakistan, others by Nepal and Sri Lanka also attracted a lot of interest although they are just displaying the books.

Several visitors showed interest in books on Buddhism at the Sri Lanka Book Publisher's Association (SBPA). "This year we thought of bringing our books on Buddhism to India. People are very interested in Buddhism all over South Asia, and there is a variety of literature from Sri Lanka that is available at this stall. Many people have come in just for that.