Projects Working In Rural India

1. Projects Working in Rural
India

2. Projects
•Drishtee
•SKS Microfinance,
•ITC’s e-Choupal,
•Hindustan Lever’s i-Shakti
•Hewlett Packard’s photo training. –
•DICNIC,
•AGRISNET,
•AgRIS,
•AGMARKNET, S
•SeedNet,
•eKrishi
•marginalized women,

3. Like many firms begun in the infamous dot-com era of the late
1990s and early 2000s, Drishtee’s roots come from a strong
ability to recognize opportunity combined with an expertise in
designing and delivering technology. Started in the year 2000
in Dhar (Madhya Pradesh, India), Drishtee’s first project was
to develop and implement a web-based software for
“Gyandoot”, an e-governance initiative to deliver government
services to the rural poor at their doorstep.
Gyandoot rapidly gained international recognition, leading to
the Stockholm Challenge Award later that year. More
importantly, Gyandoot sowed the seed of Drishtee by
providing its founder, Satyan Mishra, with the vision that ICT
and rural entrepreneurship could spread across rural India,
leveraging technology and new business models to offer
solutions for rural development.

4. Though Drishtee is a for profit business, its social roots remain
strong. When Drishtee first started, its service offerings were
aimed largely at land holding farmers. As the model has
evolved, Drishtee’s focus has shifted towards improving the
entire community in an economically sustainable way.
Whereas some services provide immediate returns to the
customers, others have future payoff to society, such as
providing education to village youth to improve their
employability. About 15% of an average village population
takes advantage of the kiosk services, and this percentage is
likely to increase with expansion in Drishtee's service offering.

5. Drishtee
"Connecting India Village by Village"
The Concept
Drishtee entrepreneurial model
Drishtee offers various solutions for different categories
of people depending on the investment they can do to
deliver the services. An eligible person can opt for any of
the two existing options. The Regular kiosk or the
computer-based kiosk and the Tele Sales Center (TSC)
or the non-computer based services.
``````http://www.drishtee.com

6. Computer Based Kiosk or the KO Model:
A computer based kiosk is a regular kiosk which
makes the kiosk owner deliver all the Drishtee
services, both computer based like computer
and English and non-computer based like selling
products and insurance etc. For establishing a
regular kiosk all he will be needing is the basic
infrastructure like a room, computer hardware
and other necessary things that will be provided
byDrishtee.

7. •The Tele Sales Center (TSC)

A TSC is a sales centre without computer, which
means that all the computer related services like
computer and English education cannot be
taken up by the TSC owner, more commonly
known as District Mobile Operator. But all the
other services like, selling various products,
insurance, queries and product selling can be
easily delivered through a TSC. For running a
TSC a person is provided with a WAP enabled
GPRS Mobile instrument along with software to
support the specially designed Drishtee portal.

8. •Kiosk
A Kiosk is an information center from
where the rural entrepreneur or kiosk
owner operates and provides various
services to the village community. The
rural entrepreneur or the kiosk owner can
setup this kiosk with computer, printer,
and/or a camera. Using them he can serve
the people of his community and earn his
livelihood. The Drishtee model currently
also includes Internet connectivity.

9. Services from Drishtee
• CEEP Computer Courses
• STEP Step Towards English Proficiency
• Agri-queries
• E-governance
• Business Process Outsourcing
• Rural ecommerce

10. Services in partnership
Microsoft for research, joint promotion,
empowering rural women and other technical
support
• Intel for research support, computer hardware
upgradation and other technical support
• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
• ICICI Lombard General Insurance
• Amaron Batteries for batteries and invertors
• Scojo for Reading Glasses
•

11. •Pustak Mahal for providing readable
materials for all sections of society
• PCO & mobile recharge
• Oxigen for all recharge coupons
• Hewlett & Packard Xerox machines at
kiosks
• Rural Employment Agencies
• Aqua & Hello Uttam for providing
solutions to agri-queries

12. Service & Product in Future
Agri-based services
2. Drishtee has tied up with CFCL (Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd.) for
sale of its product through Drishtee's kiosks
4. Ready plans to associate with Agricultural Insurance Company of India
(AICI), a Government of India enterprise and the consultations are in
advanced stages. Quiver would be offered to be referral agent to sell crop
insurance product of AICI.
•Micro-Finance: Drishtee is working on providing micro-finance and low-
interest bank loans to villagers in partnership with ICICI Bank.
E-Health Services: With a tie-up with local health centers and health
insurance companies, Drishtee is working towards initiating a pilot project in
a rural village to bring Medicare in rural India.

13. •Age:35 years
Qualification:Post graduation
Addess: Kharkhauda, Meerut
Family Occupation: Heading a School
Kiosk Startup Date: January 2006
•Poonam Bharadwaj in not more than a year’s time, has built her own
individuality and earned appreciations from the Sanpanch and the
Panchayat people. Today Poonam has a minimum earning of Rs.3000-
4000 per month within a year, which she knows will grow with the growth of
her kiosk. She offers various services from her center like computer
education, digital photography etc., and has plans to take up more services
in the near future. She feels content, still has plans to grow because
according to her she has found a means to serve her society and contribute
to the development of her village.

14. Anwar Hussain Chowdhary
•Age: 36 years
Qualification: Graduation
Address: Tezpur, Assam
Family Occupation: Farming
Kiosk Startup Date: July 2004
Best Performance: Rs.17,000 in December 2005
•Anwar Hussain Chowdhary is a known name in list of Drishtee kiosk
owners. He has received award for his efforts to bring changes in
his society from Honorable President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam. He has been one of the oldest kiosk owners and has been
continuously working for rendering more and more services to his
community people. English and Computer Education has been one
of the main focuses for him as he wishes that every child of his
village should be well versed with English and Computers. Apart
from this he has been successful in delivering many other new and
regular services to his village people.

15. •Mohit Gangwar
•Age: 24yrs
Qualification: Graduation
Address: Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
Family Occupation: Digital Photography Shop
Kiosk Startup Date: April 2005
Best Performance: Rs. 17,000/- in December 2005
•He represents the best of Drishtee Kiosk Owners who have started
with minimum income levels and then grown a full fledged business
out of their Drishtee Kiosk. A digital camera in Drishtee model
therefore has been a point of initial attraction for Mohit like many
others as well. The fact that he is bringing so many benefits to his
community and is a part of a rural revolution makes him proud of
owning a Drishtee Kiosk. Mohit is sure that his career peak is still to
be reached where he should be able to bring the best of both worlds
together – High profits for his Kiosk and services and social gains
for the community

16. SKC –Micro Financing
Empowering the poor
•Mission:
SKS Microfinance empowers the poor to
become economically self-reliant by
providing financial services in a
sustainable manner.

17. •Overview:
•Launched in 1998, SKS Microfinance is one of the fastest growing
microfinance organizations in the world, having provided over $579
million (Rs 2313 crores) and has maintained loans outstanding of
$263 million (1053 crores) in loans to 1,879,258 women members
in poor regions of India. Borrowers take loans for a range of income-
generating activities, including livestock, agriculture, trade (such as
vegetable vending), production (from basket weaving to pottery) and
new age businesses (Beauty Parlor to photography). SKS also
offers interest-free loans for emergencies as well as life insurance to
its members. Its NGO wing SKS foundation runs the Ultra Poor
Program.
•SKS currently has 771 microfinance branches in 15 states across
India. SKS aims to reach 4,000,000 members by 2009. In the last
year alone, SKS Microfinance has achieved nearly 170 % growth,
with 99% on-time repayment rate.

18. About SKS -Methodology
SKS delivers microfinance through a grameen
(village) banking program that utilizes the joint
liability model developed by the Grameen Bank
of Bangladesh. SKS has adapted the
methodology to suit the local conditions and
currently uses the following three steps:

19. Village Selection
•Before entering a village, SKS staff members conduct a
comprehensive survey to evaluate the local conditions and potential
for operations. Some of the key factors include total population,
poverty level, road accessibility, political stability and safety. After a
village has been selected, SKS conducts a Projection Meeting with
the entire village to introduce SKS, its mission, methodology and
services. After the projection meeting, SKS holds a Mini-Projection
Meeting to further explain SKS to interested parties and appeal
directly to those who may not have attended the meeting because of
religious, class, caste or gender barriers. Upon completion of the
mini-projection meeting, Sangam (Center) Formation begins.

20. Sangam Center Formation
•After SKS has selected a village and conducted informational
sessions with its residents, interested women form self-selected five
member groups to serve as guarantors for each other. This process
is called Group Formation. Experience has shown that a five-
member group is small enough to effectively enforce group peer
pressure and, if necessary, large enough to cover repayments in
case a member needs assistance. Group members must be
between the ages of 18 and 59, cannot be related and must live
close to one another.

21. •Once a group is formed and meets the minimum requirements, it begins Compulsory
Group Training (CGT). CGT is a five day program consisting of hour-long sessions
designed to educate clients on the processes and procedures of SKS and build a
culture of credit discipline. Using innovative, visual and participatory teaching
methods, SKS staff introduces clients to SKS’ financial products and delivery
methods. In addition, CGT teaches clients the importance of collective responsibility,
how to elect group leaders, the SKS pledge and how to sign their name. During the
training period, SKS staff also collects quantitative data on each client to make sure
they qualify for the program and record base-line information for future analysis. On
the fifth day, clients take the Group Recognition Test and are officially accepted as
a SKS’ client after successfully completing the test.

22. •As additional groups are formed within a single village, a
Sangam (Center) emerges. During Sangam Formation,
groups are combined to form a center of 4 to 12 groups
or 20 to 60 clients. The Sangam is responsible for the
repayment of all groups, creating a dual joint liability
system. If one group defaults the rest of the Sangam
must repay. Once a Sangam is formed,
Financial Transactions begin the following week.

23. Financial Transactions
•After the formation of a Sangam, a leader and deputy
leader are appointed to help facilitate meetings and
ensure compliance with SKS procedures. Sangam
meetings are held on a weekly basis by SKS’ Field
Assistants and all financial transactions (also see
Products & Services) are conducted during the meeting.
Meetings begin early in the morning so not to interfere
with the daily activities of the clients. In addition to
financial transactions, clients use the weekly meetings to
discuss new loan applications, loan utilization and
community issues. Sangam meetings are conducted with
rigid discipline in order to sustain an environment of
credit discipline created during CGT.

24. Partners
•1.Life Insurance Corporation of India -
www.licindia.com
2.ABN AMRO - www.abnamro.co.in
3.CITIBANK - www.citibank.com/india/
4.HDFC - www.hdfcbank.com
5.HSBC - www.hsbc.com
6.ICICI BANK - www.icicibank.com
7.Axis Bank - www.axisbank.com
8.SIDBI - www.sidbi.com

25. Donors
•1.American India Foundation - www.aifoundation.org
2.CGAP - www.cgap.org
3.Echoing Green - www.echoinggreen.org
•4.India Development Service (IDS) - www.idsusa.org
•5.Maharashtra Foundation - www.indiancharity.org
•6.The i2Foundation –
www.i2.com/company/i2foundation

26. Client Stories -Kondapur
•Name: Kondapur Saalibai
Hometown: Kondapur Village, Medak District
Children: One son
First Loan: Rs. 4,000 ($91)
Current Loan: Rs. 6,000 ($136)
Business: Buffalo and Agriculture
•Saalibai is a Banjara tribal woman from the village of Kondapur.
Banjaras are among the poorest communities in India. Saalibai's
situation is especially tragic because her husband died soon after
marriage, leaving her with a young son to raise. Unable to manage
on her own, she moved into her brother-in-law's house. Initially,
Saalibai borrowed Rs. 4,000 ($95) for a buffalo. However, her new
earning capacity prompted her brother-in-law to begin harrassing
Saalibai and appropriating her money. Unable to make her weekly
loan repayments, Saalibai had no choice but to sell her buffalo and
return the funds she had borrowed to SKS.

27. •Name: Bhagyamma Vadla
Age: 26
Children: One son, eight years old
Hometown: Chitayala
Current Loan: Rs. 12,000 ($276)
Loan history: 4 Loans IGL, Rs. 29,000 ($657)
Business: Buffalo milk sales and sewing
•
Purchasing water buffaloes and cows is a very popular income-generating activity for SKS
members. The reason is simple. Most villagers have the skills to take care of milk-producing
animals, and the potential income a member can earn is very high. Consider Narsamma of
Chandkhanpally village. With a first year loan of Rs. 4,000 ($95), Narsamma bought a buffalo
that produced two liters of milk per day which is sold to a milk collector who comes directly
to her home. With this minimal effort, Narsamma increased her weekly income by about Rs.
100 ($2.50).
•In the second year, Narsamma took a loan of Rs. 6,000 ($142) and purchased yet another
buffalo, a larger one which produced three and one-half liters of milk a day. Narsamma's
weekly income rose by an additional Rs. 170 ($4). Combined with her earnings from her first
buffalo, Narsamma has now become the major source of income for the family. Accordingly,
her status has improved in the household, and Narsamma notes, "Even my father-in-law shows
me greater respect now."