UTI Tech, Hyd firm in joint venture

UTI Technology Solutions Limited (UTITSL), a Government of India company, and Hyderabad-based IT products firm CoOptions Technologies Limited, have formed a joint venture, SUUTI Tech Options Limited, to provide IT-enabled products and services to farmers at Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS).

The company was inaugurated by C Rangarajan, chairman of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, on Monday.

The JV would offer these services through a nationwide IT-enabled service delivery network, which includes electronically providing multiple credit delivery channels, both from cooperatives and commercial banking structures, multiple financial products in the form of insurance, mutual funds and deposits.

Besides, it will integrate into markets for buying and selling and providing extensive learning for best practices.

As a pilot project, the JV had established IT-enabled service delivery hubs in 139 PACS in Andhra Pradesh spreading across Nizamabad, Chittoor, West Godavari and Krishna districts. In Karnataka, eight delivery points are also enabled as proof of concept. These IT-enabled PACS have been operational for the past four years.

Speaking on the occasion, M Parameswaran, chairman of SUUTI Tech Options and CEO of UTITSL, said the JV was committed to positioning itself for a pan-India presence in the next three years, reaching out to 25,000 PACS covering close to 60 million farmers in 12 states.

"To realise this, the JV has made the required investment plans," he said, adding that forging alliances with developmental agencies for capacity building had been initiated, which would ensure smooth technology and business adoption at the grassroot level.

The branch network of the partnering organisations has offices and teams in nearly 60 towns in various district headquarters.

It would be expanded to nearly 250 district data centres across the target 12 states in the next 24 months. These 60 branches are all interconnected by a dedicated 64 kbps link and the new ones would be included into this net, according to him.

UTITSL is the largest registrars and transfer (R&T) agent in the country, handling more than 20 million investor accounts.

It is an IT-enabled provider of plain as well as smart cards. CoOptions Technologies has developed rugged and cost-effective IT products, applications and solutions for the rural domain.