Pustak.co.in

Infosys chief mentor , Mr. Narayan Murthy yesterday opined about the uptick in the no. of independent candidates who are also playing the role of corporate India's growth engine drivers , contesting for the upcoming General elections.However , thats not the purpose of this post.Mr.Majestic Murthy was at a ribbon-cutting or rather "mouse-clicking" ceremony in order to inaugurate a new internet shop for bibliophiles by the name of "pustak.co.in" . Another entrant in the world of amazons , rediff books and so on ..one would say.But according to the website "Pustak.co.in is India's largest online bookstore with over 12 million titles to choose from. We have offices in Bangalore and San Jose.Buying books from an international website involves paying huge shipping and handling fees. Pustak delivers these books to your doorstep WITHOUT these charges. Yes, we offer Free International Shipping into India." Well ,they may very well claim a rich database of titles but their claims regarding the "huge fees" are not vindicated.Being an avid reader myself I set out on a visit to this website in order to check out its contents.I searched for a book titled "We Are Like That Only : Understanding The Logic of Consumer In India".I was in for a rude shock when I saw that the price quoted for the book (including shipping to your doorstep) was 9470 INR.I am not sure how on earth did they arrive at this magic figure because on flipkart.com(refer screenshots) , the same title was available for a price that was 20 times less than the one mentioned on pustak.co.in.A question for the guys @ pustak : From where do you source your books and what kind of logistics do you have where the price of a book turns so high along the supply chain? And the "sky-high price " phenomenon exists not only with the book that I have mentioned but also for a number of other titles.If they are going to follow such a business model I doubt there will be any takers for "pustak" .