India has been caught up in the world's biggest book launch as publishers prepare to release J K Rowling's latest book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry Potter is the scruffy haired schoolboy locked in an epic struggle with Voldemort, the evil wizard, is one of the UK's great exports.

While the fictional hero is way ahead of his rivals at home, he and his friends now also dominate overseas markets far from the UK. This remarkable global selling power is currently under the spotlight as the countdown continues towards Sunday's launch of the fifth book in the series.

Penguin, which is distributing the book in India, says advance orders for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix have been phenomenal and are still coming in.

"The count is expected to touch the 60,000 mark," says Penguin India's publicity manager Hemali Sodhi. "This is double that of the previous hardback release in 2000. All the other titles have sold in excess of 75,000 units each with the box set (containing the four published ones so far) having sold 18000 units separately.

The new hardback, which is a third thicker than the previous one (which in itself was over 750 pages) will retail at a special Indian Price of Rs 795 as against its cover price of �16.99 (approx Rs 1340).

Though this is not the biggest selling book ever in terms of lifetime sales, it is easily the biggest selling book on publication. Keeping in mind the context of a fiction hardback, this is easily the largest first order scenario for Penguin India.

Although the advance orders for India are impressive, other Asian distributors are also expecting big sales.

Toh Bee Ping of Pansing Distribution, which covers Singapore and Malaysia, says, "The level of interest is immense, partly due to the pent-up anticipation, as it is almost three years since book four's publication."

Toh is anticipating the arrival of 150,000 hardback books worth more than �3 million. "This is probably the biggest book, the biggest initial order that we have taken," she says.

Robyn Grattidge, Pacific Rim marketing manager for US book chain Borders says her group has taken 5000 pre-orders for Phoenix from would-be readers in Australia and New Zealand. Hundreds of new advance orders are arriving daily.

"We are expecting a rush of customers as soon as the book goes on sale," says Grattidge. "This will be the biggest book launch of all time."