IDEA partners with Reuters to provide ‘Krishi Voucher’

Microfinance Focus, Sept. 11, 2009: IDEA Cellular, one of the leading Indian telecom operators has partnered with Reuters Market Light, part of Thomson Reuters, the leading global information company, to launch a unique product targeted at rural subscribers.
‘Krishi Voucher’, the innovative agricultural information service developed by Reuters Market Light, is now made available for the large farmer community on the IDEA network, in Maharashtra & Goa circle.

Krishi Voucher is designed to equip farmers with decision critical information that is easy to access and actionable, thus helping them improve both production and marketing of their produce.

This information service, which offers agriculture related information on various crops, pricing, market geographies, and climate/weather conditions and forecast, will be available for 8 million IDEA subscribers in the state.

Speaking at the launch, Amit Mehra, Managing Director, Reuters Market Light said, “This is a fantastic partnership to expand the unprecedented impact of RML on the farming community. We launched RML in 2007 in India as a business dedicated to address the pain points of farmers. In the process of building this pioneering business, we have continuously improved the service based on customer feedback, however rural distribution and marketing remained a challenge. The IDEA-RML Krishi Voucher, among other advantages, will directly help address this challenge. I look forward to see this expand to many more states in the near future.”

According to Rajat Mukarji, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, IDEA Cellular, “Today, two out of every three new subscribers come from rural India. Our deep-rooted network and strong customer connect in rural India makes us as the preferred network to offer value added services to rural consumers. Maharashtra, as the oldest and largest circle of IDEA, with the deepest penetration in rural parts, and a subscriber base of over 8 million becomes a good starting point for the launch of the Krishi Voucher.”

The product provides updates on market prices and arrivals in 3 markets for each of the 2 crops chosen by the farmer, 24-hour local weather forecast relevant to the farmer’s taluk (local division), information on best practices of production for 2 crops and news impacting agricultural marketing and production — for a monthly subscription fee of INR 75 ($1.25). Daily updates will be provided on SMS in two languages – Marathi and English.

Reuters Market Light (RML), launched 21 months ago, has been bought by over a 100,000 farmers across 10,000 villages.

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