Gravity Magazine_Final - Great Lakes

COVER STORY
15
In addition to better lifestyles and
opportunities, India's growth is also causing
migration to cities, leading to infrastructure
woes in those cities. Bangalore is often on
the news due to the state of its
infrastructure. However, there are people
who live in places other than these growing
cities in towns and villages as well, and
rarely do we think about infrastructure in
those places.
Like in cities, electricity is an essential
requirement in villages. Official data states
that almost all the villages in south India are
electrified. But, there are various reports,
which state that the electricity in villages is
either not available all day, or is not of the
rated strength, or other problems like
distribution losses that limit access to
electricity. Rather than wonder about which
of the two are right, the only option is, to
evaluate after a reality check.
I visited six villages in Mulbagal taluk of
Kolar district in the state of Karnataka,
whose population varied from 200 to 2000,
and spoke with a local Panchayat member
about their livelihood and the state of
electricity there. While the sample size is
small and unreliable to draw any
conclusions, certain interesting patterns are
visible.
Their household expenses varied from as
low as a couple of hundreds, to about three
thousand rupees per month, while income
was primarily from agriculture. A few of
them had cows as well. Crops grown in the
Ideas
from the
Countryside
area include vegetables like tomatoes,
potatoes and grains like rice, ragi and corn.
A couple of villages also produced
sugarcane. Agricultural produce was taken
and sold at the mandis at regular intervals.
The villagers who could afford accessing
cold storages used it to store the agricultural
produce prior to taking it to the mandis. The
closest cold storage was about 20 kms away,
and only a handful of such storages existed.
The villagers realize the value of cold
storages and know that they could garner
more realistic prices for their efforts. They
seemed eager and willing to pay for such
services.
Usage of electricity in homes was limited to
lighting and fans. Some of them had a TV as
well. They expressed interest in the need for
lights at night that would enable their
children better education. Electrical
appliances at homes (like lights, fans &
other appliances) run on single-phase 220
volts, while borewell pumps require threephase
440 volts. I gathered that electricity is
provided for only a few hours everyday, and
it is not consistent. Often their pumps do not
get the minimum 440 volts of electricity for
the guaranteed hours, and the farmers are
unable to access water for their lands.
Based on this survey, two business
opportunities that would help villages are
cold storages and devices to make better use
of the prevalent electricity supply situation.
The cold storages for fruits and vegetables
are different from those for frozen foods,
since the least temperatures are above 0ºC;
they are however constrained by the limited
access to power. The need for cold storages
by Indian farmers is far from a recent
phenomenon, and the idea here is to portray
is the potential opportunity available. The
other need is innovative electrical devices
that can collect the available single-phase
power and output electricity at higher
phase, perhaps for shorter durations. While
this need might sound preposterous
initially, such constraints often propel
innovation. Businesses that recognize these
needs and serve them will not only benefit
but also will enable farmers to both produce
and earn better.
I went in with an attitude to study the state of
electricity, and came back with potential
business opportunities. And all this, by
simply going with an open mind and
listening to what the people had to say.
Businesses offer value to customers and in
the process make money. In the current
market scenario, it is essential to identify
what is valuable to each customer prior to
quantifying the potential gains. One of the
ways to address the value proposition is to
interact with the customers and understand
their needs, wants and desires. In
conclusion, opportunities also exist in
serving seemingly well-served customers
let alone the un-served, as long as we are
willing to listen.
– Ritesh Krishnamurthy,
PGPM Class of 2006