Global Events Local Impacts: Rural Emerging Markets in India

Nimmi Rangaswamy

Kentaro ToyamaMicrosoft Research India

How did a PC find its way into an Indian village…

The Village Kiosk…

The Village Kiosk…

• An internet kiosk with 1 or more PC’s

• Owner/entrepreneur

• A bouquet of services

• Business combined with entrenching technology

The Players….

• Large budgets proposed by Global NGOs– WB spending $500M on rural ICT development– Int’l Development Association - $34B (3 yrs) education &

sustainable economic development– USAID working in over 20 countries on ICT4D projects

• India is in the forefront of experiments– 150+ projects State, Corporate and Private players

– Deployment of 300,000+ kiosks proposed for next 2 years

• Mobile connectivity– With talk time falling to 2 cents per minute, state and private

players investing in mobile connectivity. Telecom giants to invest billions.

The Players…. Microsoft

Become the platform of choice by developing and delivering the optimal

Information and Communications Technologies for rural and underserved

communities

Utilize technology to help 3.5 billion people in rural and underserved communities realize their potential, while accelerating socio-economic development

The Players…. Microsoft. Many groups involved…

Corporate Affairs• Unlimited Potential

– IT capacity building– Grants to computing projects for

development• Partners in Learning

– Software discounts for education– IT training for teachers, students

MS India Sub • Working with Governments on

key rural ICT projects

• TS / MCS support for Enterprise companies in rural areas

• Conduct world-class academic research in computing technology for development

• Invent or adapt computing technologies

• Maintain platform competitiveness

• Provide comprehensive platform and services

• Determine sustainable business models

What about rural India…

763Mn.

Per Capita $530

Literacy 57%

This is the first time the populace will ever use technology. Emerging markets with new opportunities India’s globalizing and IT driven economy creating impact Many villages urbanizing

Typical village…

Not so typical…

Doing ethnography in a rural PC kiosk…

• Ethnography of localized contexts insufficient…– Understanding diverse players and multiple

discourses around rural computing– Kiosk space a receptacle of wider influences– Kiosk Operator bearer of multi contextual experiences

Global events local impacts. Village Kendur….

•Urbanizing village Popu 12,000

•A PC kiosk run by a local entrepreneur who had a photo studio

•Graduate degree, Skilled in computers

• Moves between the urban and rural

•Localization of services