Over 4.7 lakh pirated NCERT textbooks seized since 2024: Education Ministry tells Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Over 4.7 lakh pirated copies of NCERT textbooks have been seized from across the country since 2024, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary in a written reply in the Upper House.

"Instances of piracy of NCERT textbooks have been received from different parts of the country. During the years 2024 and 2025, approximately 4.71 lakh pirated copies of NCERT textbooks have been seized in various operations across different states. Piracy is driven primarily by commercial motives of unscrupulous elements," Chaudhary said.

"The main objective of NCERT is to provide quality textbooks at a very affordable price to the last student across the country, on a no-profit and no-loss basis," he added.

Listing steps taken to curb piracy, the MoS said that in the last one year, the NCERT has raided a record 29 premises belonging to the manufacturers and sellers of pirated textbooks, manufacturers of illegal NCERT watermarked paper, and confiscated stock and machinery worth more than Rs 20 crore.

"NCERT has also taken several proactive measures to hit at the very root of piracy business, including a 20 per cent price reduction of NCERT textbooks, timely printing of NCERT textbooks, improved quality of paper and printing (using modern machines), promotion of online sale of textbooks through e-commerce platforms.

"NCERT has also conducted a pilot trial of a technology-based anti-piracy solution, on one million copies of a grade 6 textbook. This tech-based solution has been developed and patented by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur," he said.