Exclusive Interview With Amit Mehra – MD, Reuters Market Light – Enlightening Farmers
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We spoke to Amit Mehra this week who apparently looks to build his enterprise along with the growth of telecom in the hinterland. He joined Reuters in Nov 2001 in the London office as Manager, New Business Development and was the Vice President – Content Operations till he became the MD of RML. At Thomson Reuters, Amit has led and managed a range of business development, new venture development, growth strategy and operational initiatives. He shares with WATBlog the initiatives taken by Reuters Market Light for the development of agriculture by feeding relevant information to farmers via mobile. Some excerpts are…
What is Reuters Market Light?
Reuters Market Light is the first highly personalised information service for farmers that is directly impacting their lives. It is delivered via SMS. Farmers get market prices, weather updates, news on agriculture policies and tips at the right stage of the farming cycle. All of this is very useful to the farming community. The innovation is in the personalization that our service allows i.e. a farmer can personalize based on the type of crop and region and his local language.
When did you start your service? How many states are you currently present in?
Service started as a business in October 2007. We launched it in the state of Maharashtra. Since then we have gone to 11 states in India. We are present in southern India and West Bengal as well.
What is the breadth of information you offer?
We offer information of around 1000 different markets, we offer 250 different crop types and we offer weather forecast from 2500 locations.
What has the subscription progress been in last 2 years?
Last 2 years we have sold the market light subscription service to 135,000 farmers across 3 states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab. The subscription fee is of Rs. 200 per quarter.
Content is created via 100’s of our people and service is available via all operators. We have created a distribution network of information cards.
What is the next important steps you will be taking?
There are 2 important steps for us next, one of which is how we extend our distribution network. We have partnered with Idea and Nokia. We are an exclusive partner for Nokia Life Tools which launched successfully in Maharashtra.
Our second priority is to include and add the breadth and depth of content like wind information and electricity information. We want to be the most comprehensive.
Who are your competitors?
The competitors are small. We believe the competition will come in and there are players that are known to be getting into this space. We shall welcome this as its very difficult for one player to expand this market.
How much investment have you made and in what? What do you plan to invest in going forward?
We have invested several million dollars. We have invested in partnering with players who already have relationships with farmers. We are not looking at going beyond mobile for service delivery as of now. The reason being this is a first personalised service and it impacts the farmers revenues. We will look to graduate in mobile internet once farmers have access to them once they have mobile internet.
How big is the market?
The market for this is the entire 120 million farming community. The actual market size would be a combination of people who have marketable surplus and those who have mobile phones. In terms of those who have subscribed to us we have reached to 135,ooo farmers which is just a drop in the ocean. We want people to share information with each other with one subscription as we believe that a farmer will eventually buy his own subscription.
How long before you break even?
We expect 2 more years before the sector gets established and more players expand the distribution network. It may take a few years before we break even. Scale is the only way we will reach profitability.
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