According to the website of the Crossword Bookstore, Nominations are on the basis of sales as tracked by Crossword, and the eventual winners are chosen based on a public poll that's partly online and partly real world (voting at Crossword outlets).
[5] The award was initially for a single work of fiction by an Indian citizen.
Starting in 2006 additional categories of a nonfiction prize and a popular award, voted on by the public, were added.
Starting in 2008, Hutch Essar was purchased by English telecommunications company Vodafone Group and the award was called Vodafone Crossword Book Award.
Beginning in 2011 through 2013, it was sponsored by The Economist in association with Principal Mutual Funds and Standard Chartered, and renamed the Economist Crossword Book Award.