E-commerce company Infibeam, is all set to join hands with the Government of Gujarat and sign an MoU to setup Vishwagram Bazaar, a connected retail platform for fair price shops and village entrepreneurs under their own brand name. Infibeam claims that this will be a Rs 2,000 crore MoU, and part of the Gujarat government's IT enabled rural retail and marketplace initiative. Connecting Vishwagrams In an interview to MediaNama, Infibeam Founder and CEO Vishal Mehta informed that Infibeam will invest Rs 2,000 crore over a period of 5 years, with support from the Gujarat government, in developing IT infrastructure, logistics, product inventories and support services to cater to 15,000 to 20,000 centers comprising of village fair price shops and local entrepreneurs across the state. Infibeam will open up its e-commerce platform and provide a virtual inventory to them and set-up their online Vishwagram Bazaar stores, complete with the URLs of their own names and in their own language. Around 14,000 connected villages in the state will be able to buy and sell goods, including local products online. He feels that the initiative will showcase the state's cottage industry to a global audience and make prices more transparent. The project would go live next month According to Mehta, the company will fund the project through debt and growth capital and it will be a 'for profit' venture although it might take some time for it to turn profitable. The products on offer in these stores will include FMCG products as well as retail goods…
