Punjabi varsity to sell its books online

Gagan K Teja

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Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 30

In order to generate additional revenue for Punjabi University that is facing a severe financial crunch and to further the cause of Punjabi language, literature and culture, the university authorities have decided to sell its books online through Amazon and Flipkart.

Whiles these e-commerce sites will be paying the courier charges for delivering these books, they will be charging 10 per cent commission on the sale of every book.

The university currently has around 5,200 titles covering a number of subjects in English, Punjabi and other languages, but still there profit is only about Rs 50 lakh per year, while private publishers who only have about 100 titles are earning revenue in crores.

It is worth mentioning that the Publication Department of the university, which was established in 1966, was entrusted with the task of publishing books and research journals commissioned by the university.

A wide variety of quality books ranging from scriptures to the works of fiction books on medical and engineering sciences were made available to the readers of all age groups at reasonable prices to develop reading habits among masses.

Since the production was less at that time, the publication bureau somehow sustained the no-profit-no-loss business. However, with competition from private publishers, the university was facing stiff competition and, thus their sale had dropped down.

Therefore, the university has decided to sell its books online to boost the sale.

Director of Public Bureau Sarabjinder Singh informed that as a pilot project, he had put two of his books “Dije Budhh Bibek” and “Roohan Da Roodan” online which carried positive incidents that happened during the India-Pakistan partition. “We have received an order of 2,500 books from across the world. After these books were put online, BBC interviewed me and even made a documentary on the same, which has already been aired. Keeping the success rate in mind, now we have decided to put all titles for sale online,” he informed.

Dr Sarabjinder Singh further informed that the university has books worth Rs 20 crore that are lying dumped, which includes 400 rare books and one of them is on the communications of Maharaja Duleep Singh- Chhithi Pattar. “When I took the proposal to Vice-Chancellor BS Ghuman, he constituted a five-member committee of top university officials that have given a nod to this project. We will be getting these titles typed in the coming days and put them online,” he added.

The university is hopeful that it will be able to match up all its expenses in one year and start earning good revenue for the university.