Overview

• The JCB Prize for Literature, launched in 2018 as India’s most lucrative fiction award, has been officially discontinued after its 2024 presentation to Upamanyu Chatterjee.
• The decision follows revocation of the JCB Literature Foundation’s Section 8 licence under the Companies Act, 2013, compelling the organisation to surrender its foundation status.
• Winners received ₹25 lakh, with translators of winning translations awarded ₹10 lakh, and five of the seven prize titles were translated works.
• Regional authors writing in Malayalam, Urdu and Tamil benefited from the prize’s emphasis on translations, gaining national and international recognition.
• Authors, translators and publishers have expressed deep disappointment, warning of a gap in support for Indian literature and translation initiatives.