Crossword opens 133rd store in Powai, Mumbai

Crossword has opened a store in Powai, Mumbai, which the bookstore chain says is its 133rd outlet in India.

Nidhi Gupta, Crossword’s executive director, said bookshops give readers room to discover titles without arriving with a particular book in mind. The company operates across stores and digital platforms, but Gupta said physical outlets remain central to its business.

The Powai opening coincides with the 20th edition of the Crossword Book Awards. The awards cover 10 categories, including jury and popular awards for fiction, non-fiction, business and management, children’s literature and translation.

This year’s jury includes Manju Kapur, Samit Basu, Naresh Fernandes, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Meena Kandasamy and Ranjit Hoskote. Crossword says more than 100 books have received the awards over two decades, and its Lifetime Achievement Award has gone to writers including Ruskin Bond, Sudha Murty, Shashi Tharoor, Amitav Ghosh and Shanta Gokhale.