IBM logs on to rural India with pilot project

NEW DELHI: IBM, the world���s largest IT services provider, is looking beyond large corporate deals in India. Big Blue is now experimenting with rural India, and if successful, will take its business model to other international markets.

The IT major is running a pilot project in south India that will provide information, similar to that available on the internet, through a toll-free phone number.

The services included in the pilot are healthcare and learning services and information on small businesses and micro-finance.

Rural users can dial the toll-free number from a kiosk or their own handset to find out things like what precautions to take for some common diseases, where to find the nearest primary healthcare centre, which plumber or carpenter is available at what time and at what charges, what are the micro-finance options available and also learn some basic English or another language.

���This is a project to reach the bottom billion or the bottom of the pyramid,��� IBM Services Research senior VP Robert Morris said. IBM is looking at extending the service gamut to include transportation services.

For instance, a farmer could find out various transport options to take his produce to town for sale. The pilot, being run alongwith some NGOs in south India, would enable the IT major to fine-tune the model and possibly take it to other markets.

���An Indian village is a manageable data set and the Indian mobile market is the most innovative that we have seen anywhere. We would look at how this works and then probably take it to other markets like the US. There are many people who may not go to the Web to find out about some services but won���t mind calling up for the same,��� Dr Morris said.

IBM is providing the solutions being used under the project while the NGOs are funding the setting up of kiosks from where people can call. IBM didn���t elaborate on the revenue model for the commercial deployment of the project.

FMCG player ITC has earlier made use of IT in its e-choupal project where farmers can order agri-inputs, get information on best farming practices, market prices and weather forecast through internet-enabled kiosks.

The IBM pilot is part of the Spoken Web project being led by its India Research Lab. Spoken Web, part of the six new projects launched by IBM in the area of mobile Web services, focuses on voice-enabled mobile commerce.