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.