Sridhar Rajaram is chief operating officer of the Bangalore-based JustBooks Solutions Pvt. Ltd (JBSPL, estb. 2016) — formerly JustBooks — which runs a chain of 70 owned and franchised lending libraries countrywide offering its 200,000 subscriber-members over a million books through its innovative online books rental platform.

Newspeg. Now a limited liability company, JBSPL recently signed collaboration agreements with Inlingua, Urban Raga and Science Adda, to launch culture.place, an online portal which is a knowledge platform for conducting workshops and short-term courses on a variety of subjects including music, organic gardening, aeromodelling and foreign languages among others.

History. A commerce and business management alumnus of Bangalore University, Rajaram brought over 15 years of brand building and marketing experience in United Spirits and the Aditya Birla group to the floundering online books rental company known as Strata Retail and Technology Services Pvt. Ltd, promoted by tech entrepreneur Ramachandran Sundarrajan in 2009. Together with Sundarrajan and other directors of the company, Rajaram drew a new marketing plan to revive its books lending business which prompted the Bangalore-based CoCreate Venture Technology LLP, to invest Rs.1 crore as equity in the relaunched JBSPL. 

USP. Innovating upon the concept of traditional lending libraries, the JBSPL online platform offers book lovers the advantages of individual accounts, selecting membership plans and renting books of their choice with timely home delivery. Membership fees range between Rs.1,500-3,000 per annum.

Direct talk. “In the new era of the Internet and digital technology, it’s not necessary to establish large and expensive bricks-n-mortar libraries. From a central warehouse, we distribute popular books to our 20 company-owned and 50 franchised libraries countrywide. Members are entitled to rent books of their choice at a nominal fee. In addition we provide opportunities for co-curricular education — dance, music, languages learning etc by way of classes held in our owned and franchised lending libraries,” says Rajaram.

Future plans. The concept has resonated with the public and Rajaram has worked out ambitious plans for the company’s growth over the next five years. “We are looking at a countrywide expansion of the company’s footprint to tier II and III cities where there is a huge unfulfilled thirst for books and knowledge. I am confident we can establish 30 new lending libraries under the franchise model every year,” says Rajaram.

God speed!

Odeal D’Souza (Bangalore)