MICA students launch online book exchange portal

If books have always been the love of your life, but you've been unable to devote as much time to the written word as you'd ideally like to, here is a website that you can't possibly ignore. What's more, the site is a labour of love from two students of an Ahmedabad-based institute!

Booksvilla.com is a platform for people to read as well as exchange books — probably the first real online book exchange portal. It was conceived and created by Chirag Rathod, a student of MICA (Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad)'s Entrepreneurship Development Centre, with help from his friend Rohan Pimparkar.

Explaining his venture, Rathod said, "Our portal is very different from most other websites, where books are either read online or their pdf versions are available for download. Through our portal, readers can avail a book of their choice through our unique barter system. They can choose from books available on our website, and the same will be delivered at their doorstep."

Users can put up a list of the books they have, and also put up a wish list of books they would like to read. "We have over five lakh books listed on our website," Rathod added.

The two added that while they paid out of their pockets for this website, they do not expect readers to pay for all the books they read. "That is why, all the user pays is Rs70, as courier fees for us to deliver books at their doorstep within a period of seven days," said Rathod. 

To sum it up, the website allows readers to barter books, and gets them their chosen ones at a nominal charge.