Startups Facilitating Rural Commerce in India

The role of startups in economic prosperity is enhancing the world through development and business opportunities. Over the last couple of years it has been seen that start-ups are strengthening rural India by providing them with employment opportunities and avenues to start their own business. Similarly, there are many startups have come-together to help rural entrepreneurship into their businesses during difficult times. There is immense potential in rural India to grow in terms of business opportunities special for people aspiring to have a venture of their own or expand their existing business.

Here are the Start-ups that are playing their part in such business opportunities in rural India

BANKIT: Noida-based fin-tech startup, BANKIT is helping hyperlocal businesses through its convenient & secure payment solutions. Since the inception, the company is playing a major in empowering unbanked areas by providing business opportunities and more services to locals. Till now, over 10,000 kirana stores associated with BANKIT to add wings in business with additional services like online order, mobile/TV recharges, travel booking, etc to empower their business. The company plans to expand its presence with additional services in the coming year.

PayNearby: Last year Fintech startup PayNearby has launched JobsNearby, a platform to help blue-collar migrant workers in urban areas find work. The launch is an assisted job registry that will help migrant workers who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic lockdown to seek gainful employment. Through its vast network of more than 9 lakh retail touchpoints, spread across 17,000 plus PIN codes in the country, the company wishes to create a platform where out-of-job workers can register themselves and find a suitable placement. Additionally, PayNearby helped 2 lakh kirana stores to go online amid lockdown. The app has helped more than 2 lakh+ kirana shops across the country take their stores online.

Snapbizz: Last year Start-up Snapbizz to launch digital solutions for 3 lakh kirana stores. The Bengaluru-based start-up has transformed 13,000 kirana stores across 110 cities into ‘virtual supermarkets’ with its Android/Windows-based cloud platform solutions. The partnerships with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank place it on track to aggressively expand its kirana footprint from the current 3,000 stores/per month. There are 10 million kirana stores in India and people realized the importance of these stores during the lockdown, when they stepped up their act and made sure groceries and other staples were available to consumers, with very little help from outside. We have been in conversations with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank for a while, but the momentum picked up post-Covid.

EasyPay: Ahmedabad-based startup Easy Pay has onboarded 500,000 retailers on their platform and its app Paisa Nikal has served more than 35 million people in rural India. The startup’s app Paisa Nikal connects both small stores and their consumers through banking services, thereby ushering a new way to look at the future of banking. The company aim to offer additional revenues to the Kiranas and help in digitizing them. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the founder says Paisa Nikal also became a medium for cash withdrawals benefits of various government schemes such as Jan Dhan Yojana, PM-Kissan Samman Nidhi, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Scheme, National Pension Scheme, Kissan Nyay Yojana, MGNREGA, and many more.