...and this made me feel pretty good, too! There was no info about who
wrote this article though...Jace, could you enlighten me, you young,
intelligent and dynamic conqueror?
Deepa.
An amazing story of empowering rural India
Sriram Raghavan, Co-founder & President, Comat Technologies.
February 18, 2008
The new breed of India's best innovators is set to take the world by a
storm. Young, intelligent, and ambitious these dynamic entrepreneurs
might well conquer the world with their innovative ideas, products and
services.
rediff.com brings to you a special series on India's best innovators
and entrepreneurs, winners of the latest Nasscom Innovation Award
2007.
A successful social entrepreneur, he has built a remarkable business
model that is transforming the lives of millions of people in rural
India. As the co-founder of Comat Technologies, leading provider of
e-governance solutions, Sriram Raghavan initiated the concept of rural
business process outsourcing units and rural business centres.
"Last year, we served nearly 75 lakh (7.5 million) rural customers and
currently provide government and business services to over 10 lakh (1
million) citizens per month," says Raghavan, who is also an advisor to
the Government of India on strategic initiatives for the rural sector.
He believes that India is a land of young entrepreneurs and it is
important to empower the youth. Comat passes on the benefits of
information technology to rural India with business centres and BPO
projects across the country.
The company has bagged contracts to set up rural business centres in
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Tripura and Sikkim.
One of the firm's most remarkable projects in Karnataka, Bhoomi
involved digitization of over 20 million land records benefiting
nearly 7 million farmers.
Raghavan takes you through Comat's exciting journey through rural
India in an interview with Assistant Editor Manu A B.
What won you Nasscom's prestigious award for innovation this year?
Comat provides easy and affordable access to information-based
government and business services in rural communities in India through
our Rural Business Centres (RBCs). Rural citizens dealing with the
governments do not receive services they are entitled to, and have
limited or no choice for financial and educational services.
We have found three innovations to solve these fundamental problems.
Use technology to de-skill complicated tasks: Modelled after the best
practices of user-friendly designs, we have created a much simpler
interface for operators.
Identify corporate partners who will use the center to deliver
services through the center using their own personnel: For e.g., a
fertilizer company that markets fertilizers and offers advisory
services to farmers..
Identify high revenue activities for the computer platform in kiosks
during off-hours: We currently deliver checque truncation services for
US banks.
How long did it take to develop the award winning rural business
centre? How does it work? How many people are benefited by this?
In Karnataka, nearly 800 RBCs were made operational in six months
under the Nemmadi project. Last year, we served nearly 75 lakh rural
customers and currently provide government and business services to
over 10 lakh citizens per month.
Ever since the start of this project in October 2006, there has been a
30 per cent increase in the demand for government services in
Karnataka.
How difficult was the task? What hurdles did you face? How do you
ensure connectivity in rural areas?
We faced a few major hurdles like human resource and cash management,
working with multiple layers of the government, finding good investors
and handling customer expectations.
We have put in place innovative technological mechanisms for tracking
employee attendance, grievance management and tracking of cash.
Connectivity is VSAT-based. We have found this to be most reliable so far.
What are your views on innovation in India? How important is
innovation for a country like India?
I have come across a lot of innovation across the globe -- both good
and bad. Innovations in pubic policy and in ways NGOs
(non-governmental organisations) function are encouraging.
Unfortunately, there is also innovation in corruption and ways of
breaking set processes and protocol.
As the economy progresses and younger minds become more aware, further
innovative thinking will be spurred. I am also looking forward to
alternate sources where innovation can spring from SMEs, rural
citizens and young entrepreneurs, rather than from traditional
strongholds like universities.
What are the major rural projects Comat is working on?
We are focussing on starting RBCs in other states. We have tied up
with coaching centres to provide CET (Common Entrance Test -- for
admissions to engineering and medical colleges) coaching to students
in rural Karnataka.. Training from Bangalore will be beamed live
