There are over 250,000 CSCs across the country, of which 150,000 are rural and the rest are in urban areas
People in rural areas will now be able to buy mobile phones and laptops online by visiting their nearest Common Service Center (CSC).
CSC e-Governance Services Ltd, the company that runs such centres, has tied-up with Samsung and HP to offer their products to the people especially in tier II, tier III cities and rural areas. This is an attempt to tap the growing demand for these products in such locations.
Part of Digital India programme, CSCs were initially offering various government-related services, acting as a single point for delivery but now have expanded their reach to various products from private players.
CSC e-Governance Services CEO Dinesh Tyagi told DNA Money that an agreement with Samsung and HP has been recently implemented. Samsung will also train a few people at the centres, which can act as a service centres for their mobile products under the warranty period.
However, a village-level entrepreneur (VLE) who manages a CSC will have to collect the items from district societies of CSCs and then deliver them to the customers.
Earlier, CSCs had tied up with Patanjali, ESSL, Iffco, Crompton Greaves to sell their products online. Such a model has no inventory cost or franchisee cost for the VLEs who manage a CSC centre.
"It has opened up many business opportunities for VLEs. For instance, in the last six months, there have been orders worth Rs 1 crore for Patanjali products. Many such orders are coming from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha," Tyagi said.
Besides, a VLE gets far higher commission selling fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and other products such as mobile phones. "This is a way of providing e-commerce services in the rural areas through CSCs. This will also help companies to tap the demand for their products in the rural areas."
There are over 250,000 CSCs across the country, of which 150,000 are rural and the rest are in urban areas. CSCs also enable people to access government services online such as train tickets, birth certificates, online submission of various forms and bills. These centres also train people in using digital services and also offer skill-related courses.
Another agreement with FMCG firm P&G is near closing stage, he said.
According to an earlier report titled India Brand Equity Foundation, the FMCG sector in rural and semi-urban India is estimated to cross $100 billion by 2025. The rural FMCG market is expected to expand at a compounded annual growth rate of 17.41% to $100 billion during 2009–25. As per estimates, rural FMCG market accounts for 40% of the overall FMCG market in India in revenue terms.
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