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| IDEA partners with Reuters Market Light to launch a unique service for rural markets |
| Announcement / Corporate Sep 10, 2009, 20:37 IST |
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'Krishi Voucher' to provide agri-information to the Farmer community in Maharashtra
IDEA Cellular, one of the leading telecom operators in the country 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.
India in general and Maharashtra in particular, is heavily dependent on agriculture, which is the most important, and at times, the only source of livelihood for farmers. There is a need to address challenges faced by Farmers due to lack of timely, localized, reliable and relevant information on market prices, weather conditions, and other farming best practices. 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 over 8 million IDEA subscribers in the state.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. 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 Mr. 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.”
Talking about the new product, Mr. P Laxminarayana, Chief Operating Officer – Maharashtra & Goa, IDEA Cellular Ltd, said, “IDEA has constantly innovated to offer world class products and services designed keeping in mind the daily communication needs of diverse customer segments. Reuters Market Light’s information service is an innovative, productive, and efficient risk management tool for the large farming community in Maharashtra. We are happy to partner with a leading agri-information provider, Reuters Market Light, to bring this unique offering for our subscribers in the region, many of whom are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.”
IDEA subscribers availing this service will get the following information updates:
- 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 Taluka
- Information on best practices of production for 2 crops
- News impacting agricultural marketing and production.
This service is available for a monthly subscription fee of Rs.75 only. The voucher is available at IDEA retail outlets, in Maharashtra & Goa.
Farmers can subscribe to the service by calling on a specially provided Toll Free Number – 58090 where they would be supported by Marathi speaking customer care representatives to register their preferences such as crops, markets and location. Daily updates will be provided on SMS in two languages - Marathi and English.
About Reuters Market Light
Reuters Market Light (RML) is a highly personalized professional information service for farmers in India. Each farmer gets spot prices of his chosen crops from nearby markets, news and crop advice as per his region or crop, and localized weather forecast – all as per his individual preferences in his local language as simple smses. Within only 21 months of the launch in India, over 250,000 RML quarterly subscriptions have been bought by over a 100,000 farmers across 10,000 villages. The farmers have realized huge financial benefits – ranging from Rs. 500 to as high as Rs. 400,000. RML reduces their production and marketing risk.
About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI); Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI); London Stock Exchange (LSE: TRIL); and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: TRIN). For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.
About IDEA Cellular Ltd.:
IDEA Cellular Ltd. is a leading GSM mobile services operator with over 50 million subscribers, under brand IDEA. It is a pan India integrated GSM operator with 90% coverage of the telephony potential of India, and NLD and ILD operations. IDEA is listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India.
IDEA Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company, India’s first truly multinational corporation. The group operates in 25 countries, and is anchored by over 130,000 employees belonging to 30 nationalities. More information on the company is available at: www.ideacellular.com and on the group at: www.adityabirla.com
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