MANAGERIAL

COMMUNICATION

REPORT

BITS PILANI BOOK BANK

A unique book rental service for students

Submitted by
ShanmukhaPriya C
AakanshaYeole
Anil Menon
Sampad Chandra
Rajath G Krishnan
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled, BITS PILANI BOOK BANK" submitted by Group 6 in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Masters in Business Administration in at
Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani is an authentic work carried out by them under
my supervision and guidance.

To the best of my knowledge, the matter embodied in the project has not been submitted to any
other University / Institute for the award of any Degree or Diploma.

Date:

Dr.Jayashree Mahesh
Assistant Professor
Department of Management
BITS Pilani

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In performing our assignment, we took the help and guidance from valuable sources, to whom
we would like to express our gratitude. We would like to show our gratitude Dr.
JayashreeMahesh,Assitant Professor, BITS Pilani for giving us a good guideline for assignment
throughout the course of the assignemnt.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to all those who have directly and indirectly guided us
in writing this assignment.
In addition, we would also like to thank Mr. Ishappa C Bandi, Deputy Librarian, BITSPilani for
giving us valuable insights and sparing his precious time to support our ideas.
We thank everyone whocontributed directly and indirectly towards the completion of our
assignment.

Group 6

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 CONTENTS

Sl.no Description Pg.No

1 Abstract 4
2 Introduction 4
2 Justification 4
4 Objective 4
5 Scope 5
6 Sample Details 5
7 Research Methodology 5
8 Inferences from responses 5
9 Feasibility study 6
10 Conclusion 6
11 Exhibit 1 7
12 Exhibit 2 9
13 Exhibit 3 12

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ABSTRACT
BITS Pilani is one of the top institutions in India. Despite being a private institution, it competes
with the nations top government funded institutions. The student intake is substantial every year
and given the courses, there is a significant number of prescribed books that is required by the
students.
Many of the students prefer buying second hand books and these are obtained from vendors
outside the campus for a lower rate than the original pricing of the books. Despite the
affordability of the process, the books are often of poor quality and / or old editions.
This can be avoided if a more efficient and institution run system is brought into place as it
would benefit the students and be profitable to the institution on the long run.
BITS Pilani Book Bank was conceived to be a unique book rental platform for the students of
BITS Pilani. This idea offers the students an easy and hassle free way for renting out the
prescribed books for every semester at an affordable price. The report discusses the details
regarding the book bank, its feasibility within campus and its advantages.

INTRODUCTION
BITS Pilani Book Bank is a proposal for providing a student friendly platform for renting
necessary text books and study material at nominal cost. Majority of students in campus depend
on used/ second hand books. Also there is overdependence on third party vendors who charge
high prices, which is not economic for students. This system would be implemented through
library by integrating the borrowing with ID cards. A nominal registration fee will be collected
from students at the time of borrowing.

JUSTIFICATION
The existing system is not very pocket friendly for the students. Also, there is an
overdependence on third party vendors who charge high prices. Therefore, there is a need for
bringing out a more student friendly and efficient system for lending books and study material
for the students.

OBJECTIVE
The basic objective is to provide an alternative to the present system. This can be established
by providing syllabus specific books at nominal cost and by avoiding the interference of the
middle men. Also, the books shall be available on a rental basis for every semester. The
registration shall be with the student ID card issued by the institution. The functioning of this
system shall be integrated with the library to make it easier to operate.

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SCOPE
The scope is limited to the higher degree students of BITS Pilani but it can be easily extended to
students of all courses within the campus.

SAMPLE DETAILS
The target sample comprises of the higher degree students at BITS Pilani.The sample size for
the survey will consist of 60 students (approximate).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The data was collected through an email survey. Google forms were circulated among the
target students. The survey included a questionnaire that covered the following topics: Source
of books, Preference, Willingness to pay, Availability and ease of purchasing, Usefulness and
urgency of Book bank. (Questionnaire in Exhibit 1)

INFERENCES FROM RESPONSES

(Response sheet in Exhibit 2)
Majority of books are bought from shops (75%)
Second hand books have higher preference (87.5%)
2000-2500 is average amount spent on books per semester (46%)
63% find the book bank facility to be useful
Rs. 1000 is the average amount that students are willing to pay (55%)

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FEASIBILITY STUDY
With respect to the feasibility of the execution of this project, the team members had discussed
the proposal with the Deputy Librarian, BITS Pilani Mr. Ishappa C Bandi. The topics discussed
were as follows:
Space for storage and warehousing: The space for storage of the books and
warehousing during the vacations is a key issue. The library currently has the space for
warehousing books for one course but for further expansion, a separate ware house
needs to developed.
Extension of services to B.E. students: This would prove to be a tedious as well as an
unprofitable task for the library. The edition changes for the books in the engineering
courses are very frequent and therefore would be difficult for the library to update the
editions of such a large number of books. The streams in Engineering are many and
therefore would require multiple text books for each stream as well as multiple copies in
each.
Probable extension to Post graduate programs: The proposal, if successful can easily be
extended to the post graduate degree program students as the warehousing would be
easier. Also since the courses are shorter and the intake more limited, the warehousing
and stocking of books would be easier.
Rough financial estimate has been prepared to obtain a better understanding as to the
profitability of the proposal. (Exhibit 3)

CONCLUSION
From the above study and discussion it can be concluded that the project is very much needed
and that it is feasible to implement within BITS Pilani campus. If implemented, it would be very
useful to the students as it is affordable and hassle free to the students. Though the initial
costing could be on the higher end for the library but, on the long run, the book bank is profitable
to the library. This system would be very helpful for the students and reduce the dependence on
third party vendors for the text books.

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Exhibit 1
USEFULNESS OF BOOK BANK FACILITY: QUESTIONNAIRE

Q.1From where do you get your text books?

Options:

Shop
Library
Others

Q.2Do you buy first hand text books?

Options:

No
Yes

Q.3Approximately how much do you spend on buying books per semester?

Options:

2000-2500
2500-3000
3000-3500
3500-4000
4000-4500
4500-5000
5000-5500

Q.4How easy is it to find the prescribed text book in the market?

Options:
1. Very easy
2. Easy
3. Neither easy nor difficult
4. Difficult
5. Very difficult

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Q.5How useful would a book bank facility be to you?
Options:
1. Not at all useful
2. Somewhat useless
3. Neither useful nor useless
4. Useful
5. Very useful

Q.6How urgent do you think the starting of a book bank facility is to you?
Options:
1. Least urgent
2. Not so urgent
3. Indifferent
4. Urgent
5. Very urgent

Q.7What is the maximum amount per semester that you are willing to pay to use book bank
facility?
Options:
1. 1000
2. 1500
3. 2000
4. 2500

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Exhibit 2
QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES

From where do you get your text books?

Do you buy first hand text books?

Approximately how much do you spend on buying books per semester?

3% 2000-2500
2500-3000
3000-3500
29% 3500-4000
4000-4500
46% 4500-5000
5000-5500

22%

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How easy is it to find the prescribed text book in the market?

5%
15%
18%
1
2
3

30% 4
5
32%

How useful would a book bank facility be to you?

5% 1

3
32% 4

5
63%

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How urgent do you think the starting of a book bank facility is to you?

5%
2%
1

20% 2
43%
3

30%

What is the maximum amount per semester that you are willing to pay to use book bank facility?

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Exhibit 3
BOOK BANK FINANCIALS

The book facility offers convenience and value for money for the students.

The following are the key points:

Facility will be offered for the first and second semester MBA students only.
Facility will be offered for a batch strength of 70
An initial amount of Rs. 3000 will be collected from students at the beginning of
the semester as a refundable deposit. This will be refunded at the end of the
course.
Rs. 1000 will be charged from the students each semester for availing this facility.
Any tampering/damage to the books will considered as serious and appropriate
fine will be charged from the swd account.

ESTIMATE

FIRST SEMESTER REVENUE: AUGUST 2017

Refundable Deposit 3000 70*3000 2,10,000.00

Semester Fee 1000 70*1000 70,000.00

2,80,000.00
Total:

FIRST SEMESTER EXPENSE

Books 5500 70*5500 3,85,000.00

3,85,000.00
Total:
*Rs.5500 is the total cost of the set of books for the semester

INVESTMENT NEEDED FROM INSTITUTE (For First Semester):

Expense 3,85,000.00 -
Revenue collected from Students 2,80,000.00

1,05,000.00
Total:

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SECOND SEMESTER REVENUE: JAN 2018

Semester Fee 1000 70*1000 70,000.00

70,000.00
Total:

SECOND SEMESTER EXPENSE

Books 5000 70*5000 3,50,000.00

3,50,000.00
Total:

INVESTMENT NEEDED FROM INSTITUTE (For Second Semester):

Expense 3,50,000.00 -
Revenue collected from Students 70,000.00

2,80,000.00
Total:

INVESTMENT NEEDED FROM INSTITUTE (Total for Two Semesters):

First Semester 1,05,000.00

Second Semester 2,80,000.00

3,85,000.00
Total:

*From second year onwards on investment is required.

Hence profit of 1,40,000.00 per year

*Can recover the entire investment in 3 years.

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