HLL Launches I-Shakti Rural Information Service In Association With Andhra Pradesh Government

The service is now available in Nalgonda, Vishakapatnam, West Godavari and East Godavari districts. By the end of the year, HLL hopes to cover 1000 i-Shakti kiosks across the state.

The i-Shakti service is an extension of HLL’s Project Shakti, which creates income-generating capabilities for underprivileged rural women by providing a sustainable micro enterprise opportunity, and to improve rural living standards through health and hygiene awareness. Started in Andhra Pradesh in 2001, Project Shakti has already been extended to about 20000 villages in 196 districts in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. HLL's vision for Project Shakti is to scale it up across the country by 2005, creating about 25000 Shakti entrepreneurs, covering 100,000 villages, and touching the lives of 100 million rural consumers.

Socio-economic development of rural India

Speaking at the inauguration, Mr. Sehgal said, “A key factor that has inhibited the socio-economic development of rural India has been lack of access to critical information and services. Given India’s large geography and weak infrastructure, it is often difficult to reach out to the rural areas. i-Shakti’s strength’s lies in the unparalleled reach it offers in reaching out to the rural populace. The need for such services across most of India’s villages is beyond doubt and the benefits immense.”

Mr. J.C. Mohanty, Principal Secretary Information and Communication Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said at the signing of the HLL – AP Government MoU, “The services offered to the rural community through i-Shakti are extremely significant, positively impacting rural livelihoods, We are certain that this partnership between the Government of Andhra Pradesh and HLL will be a strong example of public–private collaboration.”

i-Shakti is an IT-based rural information service network that has been developed to provide information and services to meet rural needs in medical health and hygiene, agriculture, animal husbandry, education, vocational training and employment and women's empowerment. The premise of the i-Shakti model is to catalyze overall rural development by providing need-based, demand-driven information and services across a large variety of sectors that impact the daily livelihood opportunities and living standards of the village community. HLL expects that the information provided would improve the productivity of the rural community and unlock economic and social progress.

Information kiosks

The kiosks offer information in a voice-based interactive system, covering a wide range of topics including, medical, general health and hygiene, agriculture, horticulture, veterinary, animal husbandry, fisheries, children and adult Education, employment, legal, entertainment, computer games and women's related topics. The information provided is specially developed based on extensive research to understand the needs of the rural community.

All content is in the local language and is culled out from the best available resources with the help of local experts in the respective areas. In addition, HLL has also appointed a panel of experts who are available to the villagers through a specially developed online query mailing system. This allows villagers to post questions to the experts in their local language. The experts answer all questions, taking additional care to ensure that information is locally relevant and making it available to the user on the kiosk when they return the next day. This means that a farmer from a village can obtain a quick solution to a pest problem with his crops from an expert on Agriculture. Or a worried mother could get hygiene tips for her new-born infant from a medical expert, however remote her village is. Information is updated on a regular basis and new sections are added from time to time. The kiosks remain open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., six days of the week.

Collaborating with experts

In developing the content for i-Shakti, HLL has collaborated with a number of mainstream institutions, both corporate and not-for-profit organizations that are experts in agriculture, health, insurance, financial services and education. Some of the partnerships include tie-ups with the Azim Premji Foundation for children education, Tata Adult Literacy for adult education, and with CARE India’s CASHE micro finance programme. Other strategic partnerships with Dabur Ayurvet, ICICI Bank, Times of India and Mahindra and Mahindra will work to provide a new delivery channel for rural India through the i-Shakti kiosks to offer a multitude of products and services to the rural customer. HLL is deploying i–Shakti through its partnership with Yonearth Interactive, a Mumbai based Interactive Technology and Online Marketing Company.

About Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL)

Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians. HLL’s mission is to “add vitality to life" through its presence in over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. The company meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care, with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.