Haryali Kisan Bazaars to go national

Ajay and Vikram Shriram-controlled DSCL Ltd has drawn up plans to go national with its Haryali Kisan Bazaars (HKB), even as it aims to transform them into complete rural malls.

DSCL plans to open more such stores in southern and western India, where farmers will be able to shop for nearly everything "" from fertilisers to mobile phones "" in a supermarket close to their homes.

In Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the company has already bought land for the purpose. It also intends to set up such bazaars in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. At present, DSCL has 34 such bazaars in the northern states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttaranchal.

These stores sell almost everything, from toys, stationery, cosmetics, washing machines, cell phones, and recharge coupons to motorcycles, medicines, tyres, LPG gas, petrol and other items of daily use.

Some also offer banking and crop insurance services in a tie-up with ICICI Bank. DSCL has been importing stuffed toys, sandals, cosmetics, bags etc from China for sale in these bazaars.

"We are also planning to launch a full range of apparel at these bazaars from this festive season," said company Vice-Chairman Vikram S Shriram.

"These bazaars were set up primarily to make all agricultural inputs available to farmers at the right time and at the right place. However, we have gradually tried to upgrade them into a one-stop shop for farmers as well as his family," said Ajay S Shriram, chairman and managing director of DSCL.

"We plan to open 100 such stores in different parts of the country by 2008," he added.

The bazaars are located in an area where they can cater to about 100 villages on an average. Their average annual turnover is Rs 5-6 crore, excluding petrol and diesel.

The bazaars also have National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) tickers to help farmers with price discovery for various crops. The first such bazaar was opened in Hardoi district of UP in 2002.