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Village Vox
Soon, MoUs were signed with NGOs (Rural Dealer-1) to act as main distributors at a district level, collecting various products from Tata Tea on credit before giving them to mobile rural distributors (RD-2), also on credit, who would then visit a fixed number of villages periodically to supply tea to small rural retailers (RD-3), who in turn sold to rural consumers. Monthly sales targets were set. The money found its way back to Tata Tea as the RD-3s made payments to the RD-2s on subsequent visits to replenish stock, and so on up the chain. Eventually, NGOs made payments and took supplies from the company. As part of initial capital expenses, Tata Tea set aside around Rs 70 lakh worth of goods to be distributed to the 12 NGOs manning 70 districts. “Since these are virgin markets, risks were always there,” says Siganporia.
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| Source: BW Research |
It isn’t just Tata Tea that has benefited. “Our status as facilitators of rural income has improved our image and financial position,” says Raj Shekhar of Irada, an Allahabad-based NGO. And Meenu Tyagi of Sabla, a Rae Bareilly-based NGO, notes that a steady, locally-earned income curbs migration to urban areas to a large extent. Adds Keshwanand Tiwari of Disha, an NGO based in Saharanpur, “Besides a direct opportunity, it [the Gaon Chalo project] also gave us sustainable funding at a time when international funding was shrinking.”
An average RD3 now earns an additional monthly income of Rs 300-1,000, while an RD2 earns Rs 5,000-7,000. “My value and status in society has increased because of the Tata name,” says Sanjeev Kaushik, an RD2 supervisor in Muzzafarnagar.
A Gaon Chalo pilot is now being attempted in Madhya Pradesh. The next phase is expected to see most group products (automotives, salt, consumer goods, telecom, insurance) being introduced to this permanent, exclusive distribution chain under a programme called Tata Hut. If scaled to more states across the country, this rural project could open doors of immense opportunity for the group.
And, of course, for others too. “I have read Dinkar’s [nationalist Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’] poem Kuch sapnon ke mar jane se jeevan nahi mara karta (‘life does not die when a few dreams perish’),” says Ashutosh Shukla, now happily employed. “I realised its true meaning when, two years later, I got Rs 14,000 as salary through this project.” There is, Vyas will agree, a degree of poetic justice in the nature and impact of this transformation.
s(dot)menon(at)abp(dot)in
(Businessworld Issue 04-10 November 2008)
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