Shalimar Books
Leading distributor of Indian books in the UK.
Last updated September 2, 2026
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Overview
Shalimar Books is the leading distributor of Indian books in the UK. It supplies books from Indian publishers to schools, libraries and bookshops, and sells direct to the public at its Indian bookshop in London and through its online shop.
History
Shalimar Books is the leading distributor of Indian books in the UK. It supplies books from Indian publishers to schools, libraries and bookshops. It also sells direct to the public at its Indian bookshop in London and through its online shop. The company has a long association with Indian publishers and distributors in India, enabling it to provide an extensive range of Indian books in the UK. Its history includes Soma Books, which was born in the 1980s when the company was given the franchise to open a shop in the Commonwealth Institute. Prior to that, it traded under the name of Independent Publishing Company and started importing Indian books in the late 1960s. As Soma Books, the sale of children's books became its main line of business, and it incorporated Independent Publishing Company into Soma Books. It has co-published a number of books with Indian publishers under the Soma Books imprint.
Products and positioning
Product categories. Books
Sources2 sources
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