For quite some time, we’ve been commenting on rural India and how it’s all set to change the mobile industry. It may seem highly far-fetched, but the Government does seem to be focused on improving the standard of life in Rural India. The corporate world seems to also have got a sniff of the potential that this untapped sector offers. Monster.com is one of the biggest job recruitment sites in the USA and it’s Indian counterpart, though quite popular, is at loggerheads with other recruitment sites. Now, the company has taken a good leap by foraying into the Rural market. In collaboration with ITC’s e-Choupal venture, Monster.com has launched rozgarduniya.com, a job engine for those in rural regions. The site is currently available in English and Hindi and can be accessed at e-Choupals in 4 states — Madhya Pradesh, Maharashta, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The company plans to extend this to all the e-Choupals soon.
The E-choupals, for those are unaware, are ITC’s venture into empowering the rural sector. ITC has set up over 6500 kiosks across the country. The benefit – the farmers need no longer deal with the middleman. Apart from imparting valuable information regarding crops, the weather, the current prices which might be beneficient to farmers, it also allows them to access the Internet. The initiative apart from fuelling the rural economy and improving the avenues available to the farmers.
The site, Rozgarduniya.com opens in Hindi and has simple sign-up instructions. It offers job opportunities in the finance, industrial, auto-repair, medical, manual, education and administrative sectors among others. It can be accessed by using the e-Choupal in villages and the person manning the kiosk will help and guide aspirants through the registration process and other matters. Sanjay Modi, managing director (India, Middle-East & South Asia), Monster.com said, “We spoke to some big employers over the last 12 months and we got amazing feedback. They have huge expansion plans in the rural areas. So there was a void and we wanted to be the first mover”. The company hopes to gain around 150 jobs in the next few weeks. The site is obviously open only to a select few, and all job applications will be monitored by the e-Choupal Sanchalak, the farmer who mans the ITC kiosk. The revenue model for this initiative is subscription based, where the employers would pay.
With the governent focusing of rural development, and nationwide infrastructure initiatives, this might prove to be a blessing for the rural market. Companies building or expanding in the rural zone will also stand to benefit. The ITC e-Choupal as a concept is sound and has potential for good application. There are two major points to be noted from this development. One that companies are looking at the rural network in India as having great potential for devleopment. Two, that the Internet, and more specifically other rural-specific e-initiatives have great potential. What remains to be seen is how many other companies start seeing the ITC e-Choupal as a medium for marketing or targeting the rural sector. Whether other job engines will also take the leap is also a question worth considering though the tie-up with ITC has obviously given Monster the advantage.
Its an idea that we have been professing for quite some time. There is a void between the current jobsites that primarily cater to the urban polpulation and rural mass. The opportunity at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ is much larger than that at the top.
Aryan