Abhivyakti: Stress on digitisation in rural business

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Bhubaneswar: Xavier School of Rural Management (XSRM) in collaboration with Rural Manager’s Association (RMAX) of Xavier University, Bhubaneswar (XUB) hosted its 5th annual business conclave, Abhivyakti, Sunday.
The conclave aimed to provide the students of Rural Management (RM) a comprehensive view on “Rural Business: Impact in Digital Era”, which was the theme for the event.
The speakers for the first session of the day were Sasanka Sekhar Singh (Director, Sutra Consulting Private Limited), Balaya Moharana (Chief Technical Officer, DeHaat and Co-founder, DoVo Health) and Satyajit Kumar (Marketing Head-ESP Agri, Larsen and Toubro). They, along with T. Kumar and Satyendra Nath Mishra from Xavier School of Rural Management, inaugurated the conclave.
T. Kumar, the moderator of the discussion, initiated the forum by stressing on the need for digitisation in rural business. T. Kumar also added, “The RM Conclave is a conclave with a difference. We are the managers of transformation”.
The first speaker for the first panel was Sasanka Sekhar Singh, who addressed the gathering on the issue of digital marginalization and how digital technology can be used as an infrastructure. He also stressed on the importance of thinking and acting from a manager’s perspective, rather than from a marketing point of view.
Balaya Moharana spoke on the necessity to create a technology platform to bring farmers, financiers, and suppliers together in one marketplace. He further added how machine learning and social media lent the much requisite edge to rural business.
Satyajit Kumar recalled how 10 years back marketers held the upper hand, but in due course of time, the customers have become equally informed due to the readily available internet resources. Farmers now take informed decisions and awareness is on the higher side. He also discussed on the significance of SEO in the digital world, how social media these days can easily make or break a brand’s image and the need for a human to human interaction.
The second panel discussion revolved around the policies and rural business in the digital era.
Vijay Sardana spoke in length about how rural economy has an inbuilt potential. The need of the hour is to connect micro markets to mega markets for equal distribution and commercialisation of unique resources.
Another speaker, Emmanuel V, emphasised on digital technologies giving a breakthrough to the rural economy.
Alok Shukla concluded the panel discussion by focusing on the ‘Go Rural’ campaign. He also discussed about various insurances such as life insurance, health insurance and livelihood insurance and their scope in the rural sector.
The third panel discussion centered on rural banking and financial services in the digital era. All the four panelists were esteemed alumni of XSRM.
Gowrisankara Rao Alamanda discussed the broad areas where digitisation disrupts rural economy and focused on the challenges in the digital environment. Manish Kumar Raj talked about how micro-finance is helpful for the rural population and how Ujjivan helps in disbursing micro-finance services to them.