Print    Email

Email To		[Close]
		You must make entries in all fields
Your Email
Your Name
Send to Email
		Send

Tata Teleservices in collaboration with Impetus Technologies is launching a value added service for the farmers on their handphones. The prices of crops in over 3000 mandis across the country will be available through this service known as the ‘Mandi Bhav’. Farmers, who were worried about getting a fair price for their crops, now have a reason to celebrate thanks to this initiative. This may also help in arriving at more uniform national rates for the crops.

TPS Walia, COO of Tata Telecom services provider was quoted saying that this service for Tata Indicom subscribers will help farmers and commodity traders get spot prices from all markets for any commodity of their interest, real time, enabling them to make informed and prudent buy and sell decisions. Tata Teleservices (TTSL) is a part of the $62-billion Tata group, India’s largest industrial house and serves over 32 million customers in more than 7,500 towns across the country.

The new application would be available on various platforms like J2ME, BREW, WAP and SMS. The subscription charge will be Rs 30 a month and is expected to contribute up to 40% of the total revenue generated from the value added services in a year.

The service will be available in nine languages beginning with Hindi, English and Marathi and would cover about 500 commodities. The launch will take place in Punjab, and services would be extended to Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in near future.� The service is expected to benefit about 50% of Tata’s total subscriber base of 12.5 lakh in Punjab.

Companies such as Reuters and Connect are already providing weather forecast, mandi prices and expert advisory services to the farmers.

To explore the market to the fullest Tata has already planned its strategies. Rural subscribers would be reached through panchayats, by holding local level plays, by calling them or by sending personalized messages, participating in rural melas and through the Tata Krishi Sansar centers. This application’s end result is envisioned as increased VAS revenues from agri-based communities and encouraging the adoption of mobile phones.