SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd, an infrastructure equipment and project finance company, plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore through its subsidiary, SREI Sahaj e-village, in the next one year.
Hemant Kanoria, chairman & managing director of the company, said: “We will set up 25,000 common service centres (CSCs) in the next one year.” SREI Sahaj, having presence mainly in West Bengal, will expand operations to five more states–Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
SREI-Sahaj e-Village Ltd was set up according to the Centre’s plan to have one lakh common service centres in the country, with each of them serving around six villages. With almost 1500 centres set up so far, SREI is set to serve 21 crore rural people in the next one year through a network of 25,000 CSCs.
Apart from maintaining land and birth records for local administration, kiosks would provide information, like commodity rates and weather forecasts, to farmers. CSCs would also have e-commerce and e-learning products, Kanoria said.
A typical CSC requires an investment of Rs 2.50 lakh, which will be shared equally by village-level entrepreneur and SREI Sahaj. “Profits too will be shared equally,” said Kanoria.
According to Sabahat Azim, chief executive officer of SREI Sahaj, “While it takes 13-18 months for a village-level entrepreneur to break even, it starts earning more than Rs 8,200 per month on an average even before the first year. In fact, it attains sustainability within the first six months.”
“We are developing other applications as well to make it more remunerative for rural youth,” said Azim.