Services and Content
5.8. Case Study: Nemmadi Initiative—A Case of Functional and
Quantitative Scale-Up(12)
The Nemmadi initiative is a public-private partnership among the state of Karnataka, India, and a consortium of three private sector companies—Comat, 3i Infotech, and n-Logue. The initiative involves the deployment of 800 telecenters to supplement the 177 existing land record service (Bhoomi) kiosks that operate sustainably at the subdistrict level.
Local Environment
Agriculture accounts for about 28 percent of Karnataka’s domestic product and represents the largest source of employment in the state. Land records are critical to farmers’ lives. This explains the success of the Bhoomi kiosks; however, many other types of services are lacking in rural areas and require people to travel long distances, spending both time and money. The ultimate goal is for each village to have easy access to a wide range of business and government services, quickly and cheaply.
Organizational/Business Model
The state government owns the project. As part of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, Comat builds, deploys, and maintains the kiosks for an initial five years. Comat and its partners expect to recover their investment in equipment, infrastructure, and human resources within that five-year period. A stringent service-level agreement (SLA) has been established between the state government and the private sector partners. SLAs include daily hours of operation, maximum wait time, and other metrics.
Comat is responsible for software development, hardware procurement, systems integration, and kiosk deployment and operations. 3i Infotech is providing financial backing to Comat, but is not involved in any operational role. Comat will take over the existing n-Logue kiosks in Karnataka and upgrade them with new computer and communication equipment to make them an integral part of the 800-kiosk deployment. Kiosks operators are employees of Comat, whom Comat hires and trains, rather than independent entrepreneurs.
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