A ‘bank’ that gives higher returns

M.V. Book Bank now operates from 14 centres across the State
COST-EFFECTIVE: Engineering students selecting books at the M.V. Book Bank in the city.
COIMBATORE: A higher interest rate usually attracts more number of customers to deposit their money in a particular bank. But with just a deposit of Rs. 300, this bank overtakes any other in terms of gains to its customers. The bank we are talking about is the M.V. Book Bank.
If you are wondering as to how a book bank can offer you higher returns, then read on. The Coimbatore branch of this bank is a franchisee of the one that was started in Chennai in 1996 by engineering student V. Sairam, along with his friends.
The bank now operates from 14 centres across the State. It caters to all disciplines of engineering students. The centres house 2,000 titles and three lakh volumes. The Coimbatore centre that opened last month is the 14th in the list.
B.K. Sasidhara Kumar, Branch Administrator of the Coimbatore branch, says: “The Chennai bank had some 200 engineering students from Coimbatore as members. They were collecting books from Chennai. So we decided to open a franchisee here. We have at present 11,000 books.”
The bank functions thus: When a student registers, he or she pays a non-refundable one-time fee of Rs. 1,000. A refundable caution deposit of Rs. 900 is collected, which on withdrawal of membership is refunded. Once the student is a member, he pays Rs. 300 as the subscription fee for a whole semester. This enables him to get six prescribed books. The student can retain the books for six months. The books should be returned at the end of the semester.
The students can then collect the next semester’s books, or withdraw the membership if they wish to. This is the basic scheme. “They can also choose from the Diamond, Gold, Classic or Premium schemes. These enable them to make better use of the bank,” points out Mr. Kumar.
The bank continuously updates its editions depending on the revised syllabus of universities and colleges. “We keep visiting the colleges often to find out whether there is a change. Since all our centres are connected online, there is never a shortage of books. If a book is not available at any particular centre, it can be brought from the nearest centre in 24 hours. So, we can handle any number of students.”
The students are given a dedicated login ID with which they can access the bank’s website for availability and reservation of books. They need only to physically visit the bank twice, to collect and return. Depending on the choice of scheme, they can also exchange or borrow books for reference.
Mr. Kumar is of the opinion that the bank is very popular among parents more than the students as it helps them get all the books from under one roof.
“The subscription amount for retaining six books for the same number of months is not even one-tenth of the actual cost of the books.” What more returns can one expect from any bank? With its mantra “Say No to Xerox Copies”, the bank aims at bringing students back to the habit of reading directly from their ‘own’ books. For details, contact www.mvbookbank.org.; or visit the local centre at 110, Chinnasamy Naidu Road, New Sidhapudur, between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.; or call Mr. Kumar at 99419-19293.

Tidel Park works commence

REVIEWING PROGRESS: Information Technology Secretary C. Chandramouli (right) along with Collector Neeraj Mittal (second right) inspecting the excavation work for the Tidel Park at ELCOT’s Special Economic Zone for Information Technology sector at Peelamedu in Coimbatore on Wednesday. —

COIMBATORE: Construction of the Coimbatore Tidel Park will be over by December next year, according to the Information Technology Secretary, C. Chandramouli.

He told presspersons here on Wednesday that the park would have a total built-up area of 16 lakh sq.ft. This would include close to 10 lakh sq.ft of IT space and also parking space for about 1,100 cars and 2,000 two-wheelers.

Enquiries

The works were on schedule now and enquiries for occupation at the park were being registered.

The 56-acre Information Technology-sector specific Special Economic Zone in Peelamedu area here had 9.5 acres earmarked for the Tidel Park, 9.5 acres for Wipro, 9.5 acres for Tata Consultancy Services and four acres for HCL. Residential units were planned on nearly 12 acres.

Foundation

Excavation works started at the Tidel Park site last month and building construction was expected to commence in February next. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi laid the foundation for the park in February this year.

Mr. Chandramouli held discussions with District Collector Neeraj Mittal, officials from the Revenue, State Highways Departments and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu here on the approach road to the park. It was proposed to have a four-lane road to the park from the main Avinashi Road.

Coimbatore was the first tier-two city in the State where works have started for the Tidel Park.

Projects

Similar projects were planned in other tier-two cities, including Tirunelveli, Tiruchi and Madurai, he said. The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu had nine IT-sector specific SEZs in six locations.

source : www.thehindu.com

Kovai Tidel - Dinamalar

Best cities to live, invest and earn in

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/nov/26city1.htm



India is a land of paradox, it is said, even the rapid economic development in the last few years hasn't helped in managing the contradictions.
A latest survey has now revealed cities such as Gurgaon that are most preferred to earn a living and where employment growth is the fastest, are not among the best places to live.

According to data compiled by economics research firm Indicus Analytics on residences, earnings and investments, none of the ten cities in the 'reside-in' list figure in the 'earn-in' list of places with most employment opportunities.

Moreover, the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai did not figure among the ten best cities to reside, earn or invest. However, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai were among the cities preferred by millionaires to spend their life.

The list of 'earn-in' cities has been topped by Gurgaon, followed by Silvaasa, Noida, Faridabad, Rupnagar, Chandigarh, Surat, Bangalore, Gandhinagar and Pune.

The best cities to reside are Kochi, Kozhikode, Shimla, Thiruvananthapuram, Mysore, Goa, Thrissur, Pondicherry, Kannur and Thiruvalur. Interestingly, five of these cities are in God's own country, Kerala. Shimla is the only northern city in this list, while Chandigarh, among the few fully planned cities in the country, failed to find a place.

The 'invest-in' index was topped by Silvassa, followed by Coimbatore, Ludhiana, Shimla, Noida, Gurgaon, Gandhinagar, Surat, Itanagar and Chandigarh.

Indicus considered six parameters - health, education, environment, safety, public facilities and entertainment - for preparing the 'reside-in' index. The 'earn-in' list was based on growth rate of employment, per capita income and listings on popular job websites

Rakindo Developers to invest $5bn over 5 yrs

Rakeen, a global company promoted by the government of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, today announced a 50:50 joint venture with Chennai-based Trimex group to form a foreign direct investment (FDI)-compliant real estate joint venture for the Indian market.

The JV, Rakindo Developers, will have a committed outlay of $5 billion over the next five years for its project in India. The company is planning to develop, on a conservative basis, 50 million square feet of residential, commercial and office space across the country over seven years.

Rakindo plans to start work on a $1.5 billion, 1,000-acre integrated township and information technology (IT) special economic zone (SEZ) in Coimbatore in the first quarter of 2008. It has already received in- principle clearance for the SEZ, which is being developed in partnership with the Tamil Nadu government.

"Establishing an integrated township and IT park in Tamil Nadu affirms our belief in the state, and is definitely a step towards our effort to bring world class facilities to India," Khatar Massad, advisor to Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah and CEO, RAK Investment authority.

Rakindo already has a land bank of over 4000 acre across the country, and is negotiating with the government to acquire an additional 5,000 acre.