Tamil Nadu man fulfils dream of buying bike of Rs 2.6 lakh with Re 1 coins saved over 3 years

V Boopathi, 29, scrimped and saved Rs 2.6 lakh in one-rupee coins for more than three years to buy a Bajaj Dominar 400 with the cash.  

Collecting one-rupee coins over three years helped a youth in Tamil Nadu buy his dream bike from a showroom in Salem on Saturday. The showroom took 10 hours to count the money, which was brought in a van and then offloaded in wheelbarrows.

V Boopathi, 29, scrimped and saved Rs 2.6 lakh in one-rupee coins for more than three years to buy a Bajaj Dominar 400 with the cash. He would exchange all the currency notes he saved for one-rupee coins at temples, hotels and tea stalls.

Showroom manager Mahavikranth quoted by Times of India said he was reluctant at first to accept the money in coins, but gave in since he didn’t want to disappoint Boopathi. “The banks would charge Rs 140 as commission for counting 1 lakh (that too in 2,000 denomination). How will they accept it when we give them Rs 2.6 lakh in one-rupee coins,” Mahavikranth asked? “I finally accepted, considering Boopathi’s dream of buying a high-end bike,” he added.

Boopathi, his four friends and five staff of the showroom counted the coins. Boopathi finally got his bike around 9pm on Saturday.

Boopathi, a resident of Gandhi Maidan at Ammapet in the city, works as a computer operator in a private company.

Also a YouTuber, he has posted many videos over the past four years. Boopathi said he had inquired about the cost of the bike three years ago and was told it was Rs 2 lakh.

“I didn’t have so much money at the time,” Boopathi told TOI. “I decided to save money from the revenue earned from the YouTube channel. I recently inquired about the cost of the bike and learned that it was Rs 2.6 lakh on road now. And I had the amount this time,” he said.