From software to banking

It all started with a city-based IT solutions company setting out to build a technology platform for agricultural cooperative societies that would enable provision of banking services in rural areas at just two percent extra cost compared with urban bank branches.

The model involved computerising the credit histories and asset base of farmers in a specified area as a ready documentation resource to be accessed when applying for loans through formal sources such as banks. The model so appealed to the developer that it has itself decided to be a player in financial intermediation and quit the software projects space.

Functioning as a corporate business correspondent, the company, CoOptions Technologies Limited, has disbursed Rs 20 crore as loans to 15,000 farmers this kharif season on the platform it developed, apart from collecting the records of 2.5 million farmers in 20 districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The company was one of the two themes selected by Dell India to be part of its new ‘Take Your Own Path' campaign aimed at the 7.6 million-strong small and medium businesses in the country. Along with the other selection — Chitale Dairy in Maharashtra — the company was chosen for its effective use of technology to address business challenges.

Ravi Bharadwaj, general manager (SMB), Dell India, told mediapersons here that SMBs were now a big opportunity for the company, given that only about 3.6 million SMBs use IT with almost as many remaining an untouched market.