“One of the main reasons for setting up an online library that delivered books to people to their home was people often couldn’t return the books on time and ended up paying penalty for late book returns”, said Turakhia who interviewed many people on their likes and dislikes about a standard library system during the initial marketing stages of his online venture. He thus set a limit on the number of books a member could borrow rather than on the time they can keep them for, and decided to set up an efficient book delivery and collection team.

Librarywala has a collection of 30,000 unique titles, with as many as 150 copies of books like Chetan Bhagat's Two States, and 9,000 active members across Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. It has a delivery team of 22, 8 and 4 in the three cities.

There are several online libraries in India now, including EasyLib and IndiaReads, and there will certainly be more in the future, intensifying the competition.

On the other hand, Eloor Library which was started in Ernakulam, Kerala followed by branches in Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi is one of the best known private libraries in India. Over 30 years, this library is providing free membership to readers by lending them books at one tenth of their price along with collecting a refundable deposit amount. Even though the library has attracted a serious reader-base, things have not been going well over the recent years. "Our membership has declined 20% in the past five years. I don't see libraries dying in the near future but we have to change with the times to survive," says Gautham Luiz, whose father founded the iconic library back in 1979.

Read Also: 2 Indian Entrepreneurs Sacrifice Cozy Jobs For Social Service

And Zomato Launches A Catering Section For Delhi NCR, Bangalore And Mumbai