Emami - Rural Thrust

Emami - Going HLL Way

Emami Ltd, the Kolkata based FMCG major, is planning to induct 20,000 rural individuals in West Bengal for its ambitious rural marketing initiative as a part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. After starting in West Bengal on a pilot basis in 2005, the company has already rolled out the initiative in four other states - Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The company is now in the process of rolling it out in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Emami's managing director Sushil Goenka told reporters here that the company has targeted to bring 100,000 rural individuals under the project in next three to four years in India. West Bengal, leading the company's initiative currently, would be in forefront with 20,000 people involved. According to Goenka, Emami's rural development initiative included two schemes - Emami mobile traders and small village shops. "We have started the initiative only last year and now in just one year we have more than 2,500 mobile traders and 200 small village shops," Goenka said. West Bengal was leading the chart with 1,288 followed by Andhra Pradesh with 988 people involved.

Elaborating on the project, the Emami MD said that the mobile traders were ensured a guaranteed income of Rs 1,000 on goods worth Rs 4,000 sold per month. They were provided uniforms, winter and monsoon protection equipment and identity badges. "Even for the Emami small village shops, devised primarily to augment the income of housewives, we are providing banners, sign boards and garden umbrellas," he said. Goenka pointed out that following the success of the rural initiative, the company is planning to roll it out further to states like Assam, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. "We are getting Rs 50 lakh worth of sales from rural network which we are spending entirely on the project itself," he added.