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Sep, 04 2019

BRIDGING THE RURAL-DIGITAL DIVIDE

Vakrangee makes life comfortable for those staying away from metros and cities through its digital services. Its business model makes for a perfect case study.

BRIDGING THE RURAL-DIGITAL DIVIDE

After serving government projects for over a decade to deliver services for rural citizens, it was only natural for Vakran­gee founder Dinesh Nandwana to build a business focused on rural areas. The Mumbai-based company was formed at an opportune time when various state governments were looking to launch ‘citizen service centres’ across mofussil regions.

THE EASE FACTOR

Citing an example of how Vakrangee has trans­formed non-urban lives in India, Anil Khanna, MD and Group CEO, Vakrangee, says, “Earlier, residents of Dhanu, a rural area near Mumbai, had to spend an entire day to go to the bank and collect their wages. The nearest bank was 10 km away. Vakrangee has tied-up with major banks to deliver banking services from 9 am to 9 pm all through the week. It has enabled Aadhaar based-banking, through which all the transactions are paper­less and biometric-based. And Amazon orders reach a Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra even in a Tier VI location.”

Vakrangee is the largest social equalizer providing assisted digital reach to all citizens. Those in Tier V or Tier VI locations have the same experience and ac­cess to services as citizens in Tier I or Tier-II cities, all this at no extra cost to the customer, adds Khanna.

FRANCHISE MODEL

Vakrangee earlier had a franchise network of 45,000+ kendras with a mixed basket of large, small and micro non-exclusive outlets to deliver financial, e-Governance services and e-commerce products. It aims to upgrade these existing ken­dras to exclusive nextgen Vakrangee Kendras to have a consistent service and consumer experience. The company offers franchise opportunities with invest­ment of just Rs 8-10 lakh. Rs 3 lakh will be invested towards the hardware kit which includes laptop, printer, digital signage, dis­play monitors, CCTVs and other hardware equipment. An ATM machine is pro­vided free of cost on custo­dian basis. Another Rs 1-2 lakh goes for interiors and fitouts as per the design manual of the company. In addition, the franchisee will need working capital of Rs 3-5 lakh that will be deposited in the ATM.

According to Khanna, a mature nextgen Vakran­gee outlet can generate Rs 1 lakh revenue every month, of which 65-80 per cent will go to the franchi­see and 35-20 per cent to Vakrangee, thus allowing them to breakeven in 18-24 months.

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