Sunday, September 9, 2007

A75t. Provision of transportation vehicle for transporting milk and goods in Chitradurga district

Project Photos
Milk being collected at Nayakanahatti milk collection center
Milk being loaded on to the collection van
The milk collection van
Project Financials
Project Details
Transportation is a critical infrastructure need in rural areas. Transportation facilities are required for two primary purposes. One is to transport people as people need to move from the smaller dispersed villages to the larger economically active villages and town centers for finding work(labour), reaching markets for selling and buying goods and for accessing services such as health. The other need for transportation is to transport goods into and out of the villages. Due to the dispersed nature of the villages, low volumes from each of the villages, inability of the villagers to do the large investments for transportation vehicles and lack of financing for such investments, there is a shortage of transportation vehicles serving smaller and remote villages.

This project is to invest in a goods transportation vehicle to transport milk and goods. In the district of Chitradurga and in it, in the taluk’s of Challakere and Molkalmuru there are ‘milk routes’ in which milk is collected from various villages and delivered to the closest chilling station. Two routes in these taluks are open for sale, that is, the existing person doing the transportation wants to come out of the business. The reasons for this are multiple. The main reasons are the following:
The milk cooperative in Karnataka (Karnataka Milk Federation-KMF), which is the buyer of the milk, gives a minimum rate for transporting the milk. KMF makes a 15 days delayed payment which reduces the attraction for a commercial player
The business has a risk in that, the vehicle has to be run on all days of the year. The loss from a day’s absence needs to be borne by the transporter. To ensure that there is no absenteeism, old poorly maintained vehicles cannot be used.
The milk has to be delivered to the chilling center on time. Late delivery could mean rejection of the entire load. This means a disciplined transportation service, which is not easy for most people
The roads in the route are not very good. Due to this, commercial players are not ready to put their new vehicles on this route.

The route for which the vehicle will be put is the Gaursamudra-Nayakanahatti-B G Kere route. The total distance of this route is 134 km. The route covers the following villages-Gaursamudra, Chikhalli, Ullarthi, Karikere, Mirabayanahalli, Paramsagara, Talaku, Timapanahalli, Gajunahalli, Nayakanahatti, Mallurhatti, Kamadalgudi, Salahalli, Chikamalahole, Abbanehalli and B G Kere. The vehicle needs to do two trips in a single day. One in the morning which starts at 6.00AM and ends at the chilling station at 10.20AM and the other in the evening from 6.00PM to 10.20PM. The total amount of milk collected in one trip is around 500 liters. KMF, the buyer pays for the transportation at the rate of Rs. 5.8 per km.

To improve the utilization of the vehicle, the vehicle will also be used when it is free to transport goods to and fro from Nayakanahatti village to the main cities of Davengere, Challakere and Chitradurga. The vehicle will require two people, one driver and one helper

Due to the fact that transporting milk is not commercially very attractive, the difficult nature of the business, and the extent of financing required, there is a gap which S3IDF will help to fill. S3IDF’s SPV will initially invest in the project. The SPV will get a bank loan for the vehicle from the local regional bank, Pragathi Gramin bank.

Project Size Details
The vehicle which will be bought is a TATA 407. This has a capacity of around 5.5 tons. The price of the vehicle is around Rs. 5,35,000 with registration. A deposit of Rs. 35,000 needs to be paid to KMF, which is refundable.

Project Impact Details
The transportation vehicle will benefit atleast 15 households in each village where it goes for milk collection. Therefore in total the project will benefit directly 240 households. With an average of 5 per household, the project will benefit 1200 people. Another impact of this project is that it will give continuous employment to two people, the driver and helper of the vehicle. Doing this project has the potential to have multiple benefits. Once S3IDF understands the dynamics of this project, we can encourage more people to get into the dairy industry by assisting further investments in the dairy industry, investments from transportation to chilling units to a dairy.

A 75q Provision of cable and related services in Nayakanahatti village, Chitradurga District, Karnataka

Project Photos
A view of Nayakanahatti village
Project Financials
Project Details
This project is to provide cable TV services to households in Nayakanahatti. This is an annuity project for S3IDF. The business has excellent returns and could be a good source of income for S3IDF. There is a huge demand for cable TV in Nayakanahatti. However, the existing supplier is not providing good service and people are unhappy with the provider. S3IDF will enter this business by partnering with CRWCWS. CRWCWS will use its managerial capabilities to run the business well by providing good service to the village households. In addition to entertainment channels, through the cable TV, educational programs for children will be specially run. Additionally programs with a social message can also be run when required. The project will start by supplying cable TV for a subset of houses. The existing operator charges Rs. 60 a month and has promised to provide 6 channels but is not delivering it. Our cable TV enterprise will provide 20 channels charging Rs. 75 a month. The financing for this project will come from our SPV vehicle.

Project Size Details
The total investment size is Rs. 1,16,000.

Project Impact Details
The project will impact around 300 households. With an average of 5 people per household, the project will impact 1500 people. But in terms of developmental benefits, looking at delivering educational programs to children as the only developmental benefit of this project, the project will impact 600 children, taking 2 children per household.
The project can have significant future benefits. Since we will be reaching individual households through a communication medium, this medium can be utilized to communicate socially relevant messages to the villagers. Also, we could use the opportunity of interaction with the households to introduce other energy efficient infrastructure projects such as pressure cookers, CFL lights.
For S3IDF, this can be a revenue generator

A75r - Efficient and Smokeless Clay Stoves, Nayakanahatti

Project Photos

Musturappa, the stove maker


A 2 vessel clay stove in use

Project Financial Details
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pwRdPi0mYDcKQhn2X_GzaPw

Project Details
Musturappa(age - around 40) and Nagendrama(age - around 30) live in Donehalli village which is on the road connecting Challakere town and Davengere city. Donehalli is around 20 km from Nayakanahatti. Musturappa and his wife (the couple) come from the potter community with a family history of doing clay items for over 400 years.

Supply side issues: The couple does clay pots and various types of simple mud stoves, including three stone stoves, single and two vessel chulla stoves for households. In the exisiting supply chain, traders come from the larger towns of Chitradurga and Davengere and purchase stoves in wholesale and sell it in the large cities. The couple currently works for 20 days in a month and stop work during the rains as they are not able to burn the clay stoves due to the wet conditions. They augment their income by running a petty shop near the bus stand at Donehalli. They do not have a bank account. Simple investments such as an overhead covering where they burn the clay stoves and additional working capital could help them to increase their production.

Demand side issues: Informal surveys around villages about the stoves reveal that people are interested in installing the stoves, but there is no enterprise existing to do this. The main attraction to the villagers is the cost of the stove. The cost price of a single vessel stove is around Rs. 120 and is sold in the cities for around Rs. 180. The cost price of a two-vessel stove is around Rs. 180 and sold in the cities at around Rs. 300. Even at these prices there is demand for the stoves.

The project is about creating an enterprise, which will be able to deliver stoves to the surrounding villages at a price less by at least 30% of the existing price being sold in the cities by intervening both in the supply side and demand side.On the supply side, make investments to increase their production. On the demand side, provide transportation infrastructure to make the stoves available in the villages and provide product credit to the villagers to buy the stove.

Project Size Details
On the supply side, investment in a shed where the stoves are burnt, around Rs. 5000. Working capital support of another Rs. 10,000. This should be enough to increase production from the current 500 stoves a year to 1000 stoves a year. This intervention can come from the local bank.

On the demand side, investment is required in a transportation vehicle. The vehicle will used only as and when required to transport the stoves to the villages. So, this can be made available on hire. The poor customers might require credit support such that they pay for the price of the stove in about 3 months. On an average around 50 stoves to 75 stoves can be sold in a month. The working capital support on the selling side will be around Rs. 16000 in the first 3 months.

The first step in doing this project is on the supply. Build an enterprise which can do the selling of the stoves. Once this runs viably, make investments in the supply side to increase production. To understand the demand side issues, this project will be run for 3 months and the returns after 3 months will be observed.

Project Impact Details
The impact of this project will be significant. At an investment size of only Rs. 227 per stove, we will be touching one household and the requirement of this stove is universal. In total in three months time we should be selling this stove to around 180 households.

A75s. Enterprise support for Chaithainya-MFI’s Women Group’s Chilli and Sambar powder making Enterprise in Nayakanahatti village, Chitradurga District

Project Photos

Chilli’s being dried before grinding
Sambar powder being prepared
Project Details
This project is to assist five women (Annuseamma, Gauramma, Mantamma, Ratnamma and Musturpe- Annuseamma, Gauramma, Mantamma, Ratnamma are part of a 5 member group of Chaithainya MFI, Musturpe comes from another 5 member group of Chaithainya MFI) to set up a Chilli and Sambar powder making enterprise. Chilli powder is used extensively in making Indian curries and other dishes. Chilli powder consists of ground chilli pepper, garlic and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, coriander and turmeric. Sambar is a tradition dal-based vegetable stew eaten in southern India. Sambar’s taste is derived from the Sambar powder added to it. The Sambar powder includes roasted lentils, coriander seeds, dried whole red chilli, fenugreek seeds, and curry leaves.

In the beginning, the enterprise will only make Chilli powder. The enterprise would procure the necessary ingredients, mix it in the right proportion and grind the ingredients to make the Chilli powder, package it and sell it locally, firstly to government schools’ mid day meal program. There are around 40 schools within a distance of 10 km from Nayakanahatti where midday meals are prepared for children daily. The teachers of the schools currently buy Chilli powder from the Nayakanahatti market. This enterprise plans to give the schools chilli powder at a lower cost than that of the market. Each school will require an average of 15 kg of Chilli powder in a month.

In the beginning, this enterprise requires financing for working capital support and subsequently when volumes increase for investing in a grinding machine. Initially to lower the risks for the enterprise, the grinding will be done at a local grinding store.

Project Size Details
In the initial stage, the enterprise will require working capital support. Based on a sales of 500 kg a month and calculating a working capital requirement for two and a half months, the financial support required by the enterprise will be Rs. 51,375.

In the next stage, the enterprise might require a grinding machine costing Rs. 15,000 and a packaging machine costing Rs. 3000.

Project Impact Details
The primary benefit from the project will be economic. The enterprise will provide employment to two women from day one. An additional benefit will be to the owners of the enterprise who will earn a profit from the operations of the business