It was just about a decade after independence and the nation was going through the arduous process of building itself anew. Foundations were being laid in all areas so that the edifice of prosperity could be built with confidence. The industry of organized publishing, as we know it today, was only in its infancy and books had not percolated to the bottom rungs of the society. There  were opportunities like the book fairs for people to see, browse books

It was at this time,Shri Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,India's first Prime Minister, realized that alongwith scientific, technological and industrial advancement,equal emphasis should also be given to the social and culture development of the nation and for which he felt that book reading must be widely propagated to develop in people an abiding interest to understand and appreciate the various cultural and traditional heritage of the country. He him self a great writer and lover of books, Nehru concieved the idea of setting up institutions which without bureaucratic controls and direction could work towards this cause. Thus institutions like Sahitya Akademy, Lalit Kala Akademi and NBT came into being as autonomous organizations funded by the Government but with functional autonomy.

Thus National Book Trust, India, came to be established. It was inaugurated in August 1957 by the then president of India, the great philosopher and teacher Dr.S.Rachakrishnan. Speaking on the occasion Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru shared with the select audience his views on the importance of books, the habit of reading and his dream of a book reading society and the role to be played by National Book Trust, India in realizing the dream. The function was also graced by Dr.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Shri John Mathai, the first chairman of the Trust.

The Trust was formally constituted as an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, with its HQ's office in New Delhi. Fully financed by the Govt. of India the NBT has a Board of Trustees and an Executive Committee.

The activities and programmes of the Trust are initiated, implemented, monitored and controlled by the EC. Its objectives, activities and the achievements are reviewed from time to time and designed to meet new challenges which arise in the field of promoting reading habit. The concept of reading habit or book mindedness as Nehru envisaged was not confined to text books or professional books or career development books but the emphasis was on general reading, thus shaping its major aims and objectives.

In the formative years these objectives were:

to produce and to encourage the production of good literature and to make
such literature available at moderate prices to the public:
in furtherance of the above objective, to publish, more particularly books of the following types in English, Hindi and other languages recognised in the Constitution of India:

. the classical literature of India:
. outstanding works of Indian authors in Indian languages and their
translation from one Indian language to another:
. translation of outstanding books from foreign languages:
. outstanding books of modern knowledge for popular diffusion:

to bring out book lists, arrange exhibitions and seminars and take all necessary steps to make the people book minded:
to establish or promote the formation of regional book trusts in different parts of the country with objectives similar to those of the Trust.