mjunction-Grasso pact to tap rural Bengal

Straightline.in, the e-commerce portal of mjunction services, has tied-up with Grameen Sanchar Society (Grasso) to penetrate the rural market of West Bengal.

Through this tie-up, while straightline.in will be able to reach out to rural Bengal, Grasso will spread awareness of new initiatives of Straightline in rural Bengal.

Straightline.in, aTata Steel-SAIL joint venture, and one of largest e-marketplaces in India, was launched in 2006 to promote online sales of steel, construction material and other branded products directly from their manufacturers to buyers.

Speaking at a press conference in Kolkata today, Viresh Oberoi, managing director of mjunction services, said, "Straightline.in has tied-up with Grasso to empower the semi-urban and rural areas in West Bengal with the benefits of e-commerce such as easy and direct access, cost and time savings and quality assurance. Through Grasso we plan to sell several items online that would be of use to the rural markets." Straightline.in plans to introduce new products like electronics items, consumer durables, books, seeds and agricultural products that are of value to the rural population in West Bengal. Currently, the portal sells products like TMT bars, GC sheets, cement, etc.

Straightline also plans to source some of the products from villages and districts in the area, like flower from Bagnan in the Howrah district, agricultural products from the Amtala area and rexine and jute bags from Bally in Howrah. The products sourced will be directly sold in Kolkata, followed by the rest of India. This business model would do away with middle-men, making products sold in the market cheaper by around 10-15 per cent.

Initially, this facility will be available in four districts of West Bengal. By March 2009, straightline.in and Grasso plan to cover the whole of Sikkim and West Bengal.

Straightline.in has five suppliers right now and plans to have around 600 suppliers by financial year 2009, selling 1,000 products or more. People in villages can place orders at the Grasso centres too, in addition to online transaction. Grasso has 213 centres which covers all the districts of West Bengal.

Grasso centres will spread knowledge about straightline.in through local marketing initiatives. Grasso centres will also collect information of additional products required in rural West Bengal for uploading on straightline.in.

Buyers will be able to log orders on straightline.in and make payment either directly or through Grasso.

Payment and order details will be collected by Straightline and transferred to clients for order fulfillment. So far, Grasso has 50,000 beneficiaries and plans to add one lakh more in the next six months.

Grasso was set up in 2003 as part of the e-governance initiative of the government of India. It is currently operating in West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand.

Grasso's activities include agricultural and information service, self-employment information, information exchange service, financial and credit information, transport and tourism information, healthcare related services and matrimonial services.