Infibeam and Gujarat Government to Sign MoU for Rural Marketplace

Online, January 12, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Ahmedabad, India: Inspired by India's inherent potential and progressive leadership of Gujarat to promote entrepreneurs, Infibeam.com started in 2007 with headquarters in Ahmedabad. The founding team consists of graduates from leading institutes across the globe like MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Cornell University, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), IIM (Indian Institute of Management), Cambridge University and many other leading institutes. These entrepreneurs settled in Gujarat after leaving their high paying jobs in globally reputed multinationals with the vision of creating the largest and most customer oriented retail technology platform to serve more than a billion Indians.

In just three years of operations, Infibeam has seen revenues grow to 100 crore by end of 2011 and expects to continue growing in triple digit percentage. The company continues to attract top talent in building out their world class ecommerce and supply chain platform for consuming India.

Manu Midha, 27, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Kharagpur, was working for JP Morgan investment banking division in Mumbai. Recently, he quit his high paying banking position and moved to Ahmedabad to join Infibeam.com in planning and development. Manu is not the only one.

Anupam Guha, 25, who topped Delhi University in Computer science and went to pursue graduate studies in engineeringl at Georgia Tech left an opportunity to work with IBM research upon graduating and recently joined Ahmedabad based Infibeam.com.

In the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat summit, Infibeam.com will ink an MoU to setup Vishwagram Bazaar. For the first time, the company plans to open up the e-commerce platform that currently powers large retailers and brands in India for setting up Vishwagram Bazaar; a connected retail platform for fair price shops and village entrepreneurs under their own brand name. This platform will allow access to FMCG as well as products not easily available to rural households at transparent prices. It will also allow local produce to be sold across many retail outlets on the Vishwagram Bazaar and retail channels provided by Infibeam.

The investment of 2,000 Crore will be made over a period of five years in building out the IT infrastructure, logistics, product inventories and support services to cater to more than 20,000 centers for greater inclusivity.

Infibeam.com will be signing the 2,000 Crore MoU with the Gujarat Government here in the capital on 12th January, 2011 during the Vibrant Gujarat summit.

The first of its kind, called Vishwagram Bazaar, this would be one of the largest investment MoUs in the IT enabled sector in the state of Gujarat. The investment would enable each of the 14,000 Vishwagram centers in the state to be able to buy and sell goods, including local produce online.

As part of the MoU, Infibeam will open up its state-of-art, robust e-commerce platform for village entrepreneurs including fair price shops to create online Vishwagram Bazaar stores. This would enable entrepreneurs to buy, sell and access products. Entrepreneurs in villages will be able to showcase local products to a global audience, while they would also have access to the whole universe of products available to urban people including FMCG products as well as retail products like apparel, books, mobile phones and electronics.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Vishal Mehta, Founder Infibeam.com said, "We are extremely excited about this opportunity to power the IT enabled rural retail and marketplace initiative in the state of Gujarat." He added, "Vishwagram Bazaar is a real testimony to the spirit of entrepreneurship in Gujarat and will bring inclusivity by showcasing cottage industry and rural produce to a global audience. It will also make prices more transparent and provide access to products not easily available to rural audience".

Infibeam.com is one of the most popular e-commerce website in India. Infibeam also powers e-commerce retail channels for leading brands and media firms including TTK Prestige, Crossword, Hidesign, NDTV and others. This is the first time in India that an e-commerce company has opened up its IT platform and Supply chain for entrepreneurs to create stores under their own brand name.
The proposed MoU is expected to create 20,000 employment opportunities in the IT and IT enabled services sector.

http://www.infibeam.com/

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About Infibeam.com
Infibeam.com is one of the largest shopping portals in India offering the largest selection of products at attractive prices and hassle free shopping. The company owns and operates an e-commerce retail website www.infibeam.com as well as customized products and photo printing portal www.picsquare.com.

The company offers the largest collection of Books with 100Lac titles for delivery across India along with Cash on Delivery service. Infibeam also offers to its customers an impressive collection of digitized content. Ebooks, Music, Movies, Mobile phones, Home appliances, Gifts and other lifestyle products grace the online catalog.

Infibeam also developed wireless enabled electronic devices like the Pi eBook reader and Phi media device that make up the broad and distinct catalog. Additionally, technical eBooks from the largest technical publishers have enhanced the books section which can be read on electronic devices. On Picsquare.com, customers can order a wide range of customized gifts and photo prints. Infibeam has thus grown significantly and is today one of the leading e-commerce company.

Besides the 2 popular portals owned by Infibeam, the company also provides e-commerce platform, supply chain and associated infrastructure as a service to large retailers and brands in India.

Headquartered in Ahmedabad, Infibeam currently has offices and warehousing locations in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

For any queries please write to us at pr@infibeam.net