Reliance Money banks on 'rural faces' to fly
    
The two men had come with their families. They wore crisp white shirts, perfectly tucked in. They appeared to be at home at the Le Meridien. If at all they were nervous at the shutterbugs and the scribes, they hid it admirably well. Nothing was noticeably rural favour their ways.

But, they got the chief of Reliance Money to say that they are the company's rural faces.

Jatin Gujrati and Ravindra Gadekar are as different as a mutual fund scheme and an insurance policy.

One is a 24- year-old MBA who claims to have chosen to stay home at Bhor and live with modest earnings rather than 'exist' in a distant metro with obscene salaries.

The other is a 32-year-old graduate, itching to do his own thing and step out of the shadow of his elder brother who runs a consumer durables shop in Saswad. (Navnath Electronics & Electronics TV, Fridge, Washing machine, DVD, DTH, cooler, Electrical sales and service, his card says).

From this week, they will embark on a road less travelled.

In marketing parlance, they will try to do something akin to selling toilet soaps to a population that has never taken bath.

Impending disaster or irresistible opportunity?

Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandhopadhyay says it's the latter. He is betting big on these two men and more like them to take financial products like insurance policies and mutual funds to hitherto unexplored markets in the hinterland.

"We have already covered 1,000 talukas and are ready to roll out Reliance Money outlets in these locations, starting with Saswad and Bhor. We will cover 5,165 talukas in the country by the end of this year," he says. As franchisees, Gujrati and Gadekar will try and sell financial products for rural India like crop and cattle insurance, low-value systematic investment plans and area- specific commodities.

Why them? Individual credibility is paramount. "We can't give them (financial products) to crooks," says Pradeep Lokhande of Rural Relations, who helped Reliance Money pick the duo.

He says people are handpicked after vetting their credentials and financial standing. Pradeep has identified such youth in 1,000 talukas for Reliance Money.

Both Gujrati and Gadekar represent established business families in their towns. It's a win-win for both the parties. The company gets a strong foothold and the franchisee get a new line of business.

"Not all rural people are poor," points out Sudip. "We will make our entire range of products available to cater to the demand," he said.

That should tell who the potential targets of the franchisees will be. That will also decide whether Jatin and Ravindra make Rs 15,000- 20,000 a month.

How they make the money and other tricks of the trade will be taught by Reliance Money.

"Our training programme is scheduled to begin somewhere around August 20," says Jatin. Though he has basic knowledge of the products, he is looking forward to it.

SOURCE:SIFY.COM

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Reliance Capital (RCL) has picked up 26% stake in Victory Transformer & Switchgear (VTSL), a fully-integrated transformer manufacturing company, for Rs 75 crore.

VTSL is a Hyderabad-based company, promoted by Vaddineni Venkatappaiah Naidu in 1996. It is currently managed by his son - Mahindra Vaddineni. A Reliance Capital spokesperson declined to comment.

The company primarily manufactures power transformers, but it is vertically integrated and manufactures related products such as unitised substation, transformer core, vacuum circuit breaker, insulators and transformer oil. The company supplies to state electricity boards across India and to major EPC contractors.

The company’s revenue has grown at a CAGR of 89% over the last two years, and it has an order book of over Rs 200 crore. VTSL is raising funds for expanding the existing transformer capacity and is considering acquisitions in the near future. (ET)