RML- THOMSON REUTERS

Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

DECLARATION

This is to declare that I am Rajesh Sahni the student of post

graduate programme in MBA, Amity Global Business School, Mohali
has given original data & information to the best of my knowledge
project report entitled “Awareness and upliftment of the farmers”
in two district of Punjab & that no part of this information has been
used for any assignment but for the partial fulfilment of the
requirements towards the completion of the said course.

Date: 20-07-2010 Rajesh Sahni

Place: Chandigarh ROLL NO: - 264

AMITY GLOBAL BUSINESS SCHOOL

MOHALI,

CHANDIGARH, PUNJAB

MBA (2nd)
Amity Global Business School
Mohali
(Amity University)

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

CERTIFICATE

This is that the project entitled “Awareness and Upliftment of

Farmers” is a bonafide work done by Mr. Rajesh Sahni under our
guidance and supervision and it embodies the result of their original
contribution. The project has been submitted for the partial fulfilment
of “Post Graduate degree in MBA 2009-2011, Amity Global Business
School, Mohali.” No part of this project has been submitted elsewhere
either in part or full for any other degree or diploma.

I wish him all success in the future.

Prof Shivali Dhingra EXTERNAL EXAMINER

ACADEMIC HEAD
AMITY GLOBAL BUSINESS SCHOOL,
Mohali (Chandigarh)

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

Acknowledgement

“No good work flows without the help from Faculty Members Industrial
Professionals, Colleagues, Organization and Friends”

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to THOMSON REUTERS LTD. for

giving me the opportunity to work as a summer trainee in their organization. I got the
opportunity to understand their business and have an enriching experience and learning.

I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Rajinder Bawa (Area Sales
Manager Amritsar) and Prof Shivali Dhingra.

Next I would like to express our sincere thanks again to “Prof Shivali Dhingra.”
Academic head of MBA (AGBS) for her support, guidance and help. I am also thankful to
“Mr. Rakesh Anand (A.S.M Jalandhar)” for their valuable cooperation and guidance. I
would also like to thank all the staff of Amity Global Business School, Mohali.

I bow down my head with deep devotion to the supreme Load, parents & family
members & friends who have given me this spiritual inspiration for completing this project
work successful. Last but not the least I owe my project to the farmers, without whose co-
operation and help, I would not have completed this project.

RAJESH SAHNI

ROLL NO. -264

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

Our project namely, “AWARENESS AND UPLIFTMENT OF FARMERS” was

carried out in the selected villages of JALANDHAR AND AMRITSAR districts of
PUNJAB state. I had a very ice experience while interacting with the farmers of this region.
Our main objective was to reach the target farmers and to investigate the depth of knowledge
about fertilizers and micronutrients.

At the initial stages we faced many difficulties while collecting desired data from the
farmers. Farmers interrogated us about various things regarding our purpose of visit, our
identity, which company we are from, and the benefit they will get from the survey. We
assured them that we are the student of M.B.A and doing this as a part of our course.

The project is based on the rural market survey for the Reuter Market Light SMS
service to the farmers. In this project market survey has to be done with the existing users of
the sevice.

For this project I interviewed 100 farmers from both the districts JALANDHAR and
AMRITSAR, through questionnaires, personal interviews in villages like Nakodar, Phillaur,
Shahkat, Bhogpur, Tanda, Hoshiarnagar, Bhakna, Cheecha, and Lalpur etc. RML sms service
is not much effective in these villages. Farmers are not much aware about these services
because most of the farmers are not educated so they are not able to understand the
information provided by SMSs.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
S.No Particulars Number

1. DECLARATION 2

2. CERTIFICATE 3

3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4

4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

5. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND METHADOLOGY 7

6. COMPANY PROFILE 9

7. RML- Empowering farmers with data 12

8. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE 14

9. VILLAGE LIST 15

10. FARMERS PROFILE 16

11. ATTITIDE 18

12. KEY FINDINGS 19

13. SUGGESTIONS 20

14. CONCLUSION 21

15. BIBLIOGRAPHY 22

THANK YOU

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

Objective of the study

As desired by company, research study of project “Awareness and upliftment of the

Farmers” were conducted in Punjab. In this study as exhaustive interview of farmers &
Retailers from different villages of Punjab was done by using well structured questionnaires.

The main objectives of market research are:-

1. To know about service awareness of RML.

2. To know about the satisfaction level of farmers, whether they are satisfied by
the service provided by the Thomson Reuters or not.
3. Awareness and knowledge about RML services and its uses.

REASERCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem, formulating a

hypothesis, collecting the facts or data, analyzing the fact and reaching certain conclusion either in
the form of solutions towards the concerned problems. Thus methodology not only talks about the
research methods but also consider the logic behind the method we use behind the context of our
research study.

Defining the research problem

Review about the concept of project

Sample designing

Collection of data through structured questionnaire

Analysis of data

Interpretation and report writing

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

Type of Research:-
The research methodology adopted for this project is Descriptive research methodology.

Data Source:-
The analysis is an output of primary data which is collected from a structured
questionnaire .That was being filled up from considered villages with randomly selected
responded through depth interview.

Primary Data: has been collected through personal contact. For this purpose both
Questionnaire and one-on-one interview was considered with the Farmers, villagers.

Secondary data: has collected from internet for company profile, literature review. For this
purpose I visited the company’s website.

Research Approaches:-

The approaches for primary data collection are as follows:

Survey Research: Mostly the research was done by developing a survey instrument, a
questionnaire, based on that respondents were interviewed. This research helped us to find
that how much the farmers are satisfied from the services provided by Thomson Reuters.

Observational Research: Fresh data was collected by observing in the relevant places, this
can be how farmers react when they receive Company’s SMS services, how they use these
technology services to take advantages.

SAMPLE DESIGNING
Sample design is definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population.
Sample design is determine before data are collected .We has collected a data from a farmer
population and sampling units were selected under certain criteria. The criteria is

Eligible respondents
 MALE
 18-70 years
 The respondents should not be related to-

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

o Advertising agency
o Public relation
o Journalism
o Market research agency
o Company manufacturing or selling any agriculture Product And the
individuals who are not surveyed within six months

Sample size
We have collected data from farmer population and the sampling units were selected
villages of different blocks. Our sample size was 100 respondents from different villages of
Jalandhar and Amritsar Districts.

The parameters of interest were well structured questionnaire. Quantitative survey

was carried out in a random manner by taking the interview of farmers. Approximately
30mnts was devoted to each farmer for the interview.

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

Company Profile
Thomson Reuters is an information company created by the Thomson Corporation's
purchase of Reuters on 17 April 2008.[2] Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto
Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI). Thomson
Reuters is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, USA. The Woodbridge
Company, a holding company for the Thomson family of Canada, owns 53% of the group,[3]
which operates in 100 countries, and has over 55,000 employees.

Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and
professionals. The Company is organized in two divisions: Markets and Professional. The
Markets division consists of financial and media businesses. The Markets division serves
financial services and corporate professionals globally, with Reuters Media serving
professional and consumer media market. The Markets division delivers critical information,
supporting technology and infrastructure to a diverse set of customers. The Markets division
consists of Sales & Trading, Investment & Advisory, Enterprise and Media businesses. The
Professional division consists of the Company’s businesses in the Legal, Tax & Accounting,
and Healthcare & Science sectors. The Company's corporate headquarters are located in New
York, with major operations in the United Kingdom, India, and Eagan, Minnesota. It
operates in over 100 countries. In March 2010, the Company acquired Round Table Group.

Reuters Market Light  (RML) was recognized as the first personalized professional
information service to the farming community in India. The Financial Times-Just means
Social Innovation Awards launched last year to recognize the latest concepts and practical
applications that advance social needs and better business. "Base of the pyramid strategy"
refers to companies that have created innovative market and social opportunities by
providing goods and services to the part of the world's population that lives on less than $2 a
day.

VISION
The Power of Their Vision Lies in its Simplicity
At Thomson Reuters, we pride ourselves on working every day to achieve our mission—and
exceed our vision. We continue to look forward as we develop technologically-advanced
software that makes your work more efficient and more profitable.

MISSION
Their Mission Statement
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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

To improve the productivity and profitability of practicing accountants by

1. Utilizing relevant technology and the specialized knowledge of our staff to

provide software and services of unique value and high quality to our customers
and
2. Serving all our customers with integrity and fairness and with a view toward a
long-term relationship.

CORE VALUES

 Honesty and integrity

 Excellence
 Discipline and Hard work
 Caring for the people

FOCUS
RML has been widely covered in national and international media and received
recognition from the United Nations Development Fund and the World Bank for positively
contributing to the development at the bottom of the pyramid. By the end of 2008, RML
plans to expand its operations in two more Indian states. Maharashtra and India is just a
beginning. RML is gearing up to tap the new markets across the globe.
The company is deeply committed to the development and welfare of the farming
community .It has undertaken rural upliftment programmes in selected districts where
fertilizers consumption is very low.
Text Messages on Weather, Market Prices, Agriculture News and Crop Tips:-

Since its launch in 2007, over 200,000 farmers in 15,000 villages across 10 states in India have
subscribed to RML. It provides localized and personalized information via SMS text messages on
weather, market prices, local and international agriculture and commodity news, and crop advisory
tips enabling farmers to make informed decisions, reduce waste and maximize their profits.

Making a Positive Contribution

This award is the latest recognition for Reuters Market Light. In 2008 it was named by the
United Nations as one of the business initiatives that have the potential to contribute to the
Millennium Development Goals. RML has been widely featured in leading media including
the Economist, BBC, and Wall Street Journal and is used as a case study in several leading
academic institutes including London Business School and Cambridge University.

Knowledge to Act - Help for Emerging Markets

RML employs more than 300 full-time content professionals, offering news and data on
more than 150 crops, 1,000 markets and 2,000 weather locations across 12 states of India.
The service crossed the $1 million sales mark in 2009. As the business model becomes

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

established in India and as our distribution and marketing strategy matures, we expect to
expand the benefit of our pioneering business to millions of farmers in India, and to other
emerging markets in the near future.

Reuters Market Light:

Empowering farmers with data

Jasbir Singh, a farmer in Punjab, a western state of India, is a Reuters Market Light (RML)
subscriber. He regularly receives the weather forecast and local market news on his mobile
phone.

On a sunny day last October, a text message told him that it would rain heavily. As a result,
he hired more labourers and harvested his soybean and cotton on the same day, whilst the
crops of many other farmers were destroyed by the unexpected rain.

In Punjab, tens of thousands of farmers now consult their mobile phones to plan their day.
They trust the decision-critical information delivered via SMS by Reuters Market Light
(RML), an innovative new information service from Thomson Reuters.

“The RML service helped us keep tabs on the market; it informed us about the price trends;
helped us decide where and when to sell our produce,” said a farmer as he reaped the harvest
of profit—15 to 23 per cent higher than average, without compressing the long supply chain.

Now Question arise that why do farmers need data?

Nearly 60 per cent India’s working population (610 million according to the 2001 Census)
make their living from the land. But farmers are not generally well paid.

By one estimate, farmers in India get only 20-25% price of their final produce compared to
40-50% for farmers in the West, due in part to supply chain inefficiencies, a surplus of
middlemen and lack of market transparency.

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

Farmers need information like prices of produce in spot and futures markets, and weather
forecasts. Armed with this timely, accurate and relevant information, farmers can bargain for
- and get - better prices and improve their yields. Some RML customers have made as much
as GBP 2500 of extra profits within 7 days of using RML.

RML: built from the ground up

Following 18 months of market research, concept tests and market trials, RML was built
from the ground up and rolled out by Thomson Reuters. It applies an innovative acquisition
and service model to provide personalized and customized content to the farmer.

RML was launched in the state of Maharashtra on October 1, 2007 and since the launch,
RML has acquired over 30,000 customers.

Mobile and RML: A perfect platform

The current penetration of mobile phones in rural India is somewhere between 3-5%. With
increasing mobile saturation in urban markets (up to 60%), the carriers and handset
manufacturers are looking to aggressively grow their market in rural India. RML is also in
tune with the impending structural reforms in agriculture marketing. The corporate, agro
processing industries, organized retail chains and the Commodities Future Exchanges, are
looking for the platform that will help them integrate farmers, particularly the small land
holders. RML provides the critical link.

Before RML farmers had very limited information on current and local market prices for
their crops or timely information that would help them be guided on when to harvest their
crop. This hindered market efficiency, reduced yields, increased wastage and could severely
impact upon a farmer’s earnings and livelihood. Importantly, as well as helping farmers to
get the best price, RML’s accurate and timely information has the potential to reduce crop
wastage, which across India runs into billions of dollars each year.

Given the success of the pilot scheme, Reuters is to launch Reuters Market Light on a full
commercial basis. Reuters Market Light will now introduce a small customer charge of Rs.60
per month. RML will also now be rolled out across other rural areas in India, extending its
offering beyond Maharashtra State.

Reuters will also soon be piloting another very exciting offering that extends the current
RML information service to one that facilitates transactions by connecting farmers with
various buyers and traders through their mobile phones.

“Reuters Market Light provides crucial, local and customised agricultural information for
Indian farmers via mobile phones, including crop prices, weather updates and other agric-
related news. The aim is to facilitate greater transparency in the Indian agricultural markets
allowing individual farmers to increase their productivity and maximise their revenue.”

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DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

Demography of Amritsar:-
Amritsar is a city in the north-western part of India and is the administrative headquarters of
Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population
of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over
3,695,077. Amritsar is 32 kilometres (20 mi) east of Lahore, Pakistan and therefore, very
close to India's western border with Pakistan.

As of 2007, Sikhs form a majority in Amritsar consisting about 74% of the population,
Hindus being the largest minority at 26%. Males and females constitute 55% and 45% of the
population, respectively. Amritsar has an average literacy rate of 75% (which is higher than
the national average of 59.5%). 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. The main
spoken language in Amritsar and in the surrounding villages is the Punjabi dialect of Maajhi,
considered to be Standard Punjabi. Other languages spoken in the city are Hindi and English

Amritsar is currently witnessing rapid urban growth. Government of India and Government
of Punjab have unveiled a Rs. 3,150 Crore plan to modernize Amritsar. Money from the plan
would fund construction of roads, water and sewage management, and a mass Rapid transit
system. Amritsar has witnessed a spurt in high-end residential property and multiplex
development, courtesy the government’s decision to set up a special economic zone there.

Leading property developers from north India have lined up a series of townships comprising
of villas, luxury apartments, service apartments and penthouses. About a dozen malls are also
in various phases of completion. A new city Convention Centre has been planned (as of
October 2007), as are four 5-star hotels by the Radisson group (set to open by October 2008),
the Taj group of hotels, the Holiday Inn Group and the Marriott group.

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

New localities like Sahej enclave are set up by Puda for the Elite in town. Amritsar lately has
become hub for Medicare for North India. To protect Amritsar's historical and religious
heritage, part of the new budget is dedicated to the preservation of religious shrines in the
city.

Demography of Jalandhar:-
Jalandhar is the oldest district in the state of Punjab. The district is located at about 84
kilometres to the southeast of Amritsar on the Grand Trunk Road while going to Kolkata. It
is also the foremost producers of the sports goods in India. The iron and steel re-rolling mills,
automobile parts, electric goods, rubber goods, and handloom products and sewing machine
favtories are well known. The name “Jalandhar” has been derived from a demon king with
the same name, who finds a mention in Indian Purans and Mahabharata. As per another
legend, Jalandhar happens to be the capital of the kingdom of Lav, one of the sons of Lord
Rama. There is still another saying that, Jalandhar got its name from one of the terms in the
vernacular called, ‘Jalandhar’ which means the region inside the water, i.e. a pathway
positioned in between the two rivers called Beas and Sutlej. Jalandhar is placed at a distance
of one hundred and forty six kilometres from the capital city of Chandigarh.

As per the 2001 Census provational, Jalandhar district possesses an area of 3,401 square
kilometres and the district holds a total population of 19,53,508 persons including 9,26,973
females and 10,26,535 males.

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VILLAGE LIST

DISTRICT DISTRICT
JALANDHAR AMRITSAR

Vill.
Vill.Nakodar
Hoshiarnagar

Vill.Phillaur Vill. Bhakna

vill. Shahkot Vill. Cheecha

Vill. Talwandi
Vill. Bhogpur
Dogra

Vill. Thathi
vill. Tanda
Sohal

Vill. Malchak

Vill. Lalpur

FARMERS PROFILE
1.1:-AGE:-Most of the farmers are belonging under the age group of 46-50.
AGE PROFILE

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

60

50

40

30 Amritsar
Jalandhar

20

10

0
18-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 40-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65 66-70

Fig. 1.1:-Data source from the farmers

1.2:-EDUCATION PROFILE: - 28% of the farmers are formally literate.

EDUCATION PROFILE
ILLITRATE LITTRATE NONMATRIC MATRIC
ATTENDED COLLGE GRADUATE POST GRADUATE

3%
7% 12%

16%

28%

13%

21%

Fig. 1.2:- Data source from farmers

1.3:- TYPE OF FARMERS: Most of the farmers are small farmers.

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

60

50

40

Amritsar
30 Jalandhar

20

10

0
Marginal(less than 1 Small(1-4 hac) Mediam(4-10 hac) Large(more than 10
hac) hac)

 Most of the farmer in villages of both the Districts is small farmers.

 Numbers of marginal farmers are also normal.
 They all use the Thomson Reuters SMS service but only few are able to understand
the language of SMS.

1.4:- RML Awareness in Amritsar and Jalandhar Districts:-

RML Awareness in Amritsar and Jalandhar Districts

25 Full Knowledge
20
60% knowledge about RML
services
40% Knowledge
Cannot Understand

50

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

 In Amritsar and Jalandhar district only 5% farmers are educated enough that
they can properly understand the information Thomson Reuters providing
them by their SMS services.
 Only 20% farmers or we can say on 20 farmers out of 100 have 60%
knowledge about what information Thomson Reuters are giving them through
SMS.
 50 percent or 50 farmers out of 100 have 40% knowledge about RML.
 Out of hundred 25 % farmers are those who totally cannot understand what
dose these SMSs mean or they don’t have mobile phones or they don’t know
properly how to operate the phone, how to open the message box or messages
etc.

1.5:- ATTITUDE

Attitude
70

60

50

40
Series 1
30

20

10

0
Very Dissatisfied neither satisfied very satisfied can't say
Dissatisfied satisfied nor
dissatisfied

 Satisfactory level is mixed. As the subsidies given by the central govt. do not reach to
the farmers according to the govt. plan.
 The intermediate is involved in the govt. offices do not give the proper information
regarding subsidies.
 Farmers of both the districts are not well educated so they cannot properly understand
the information provided by Thomson Reuters to them by SMS service so they can’t
make profit by this information.
 Few farmers who are educated are satisfied with the services of Thomson Reuters.

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DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

Questionnaire (Existing users)

1) Question. 1. Subscription

Subscription

3 months
6 months
1 year

100%

 In Punjab RML service subscription time – 1year (100%)

2) How did you come to know about RML?

5
10
5
37

salesman
retailer/distributer
Friends
leaflets/posters
through all of them

43

 37% farmers said they come 2 know about RML through salesmen of
Thomson Reuters, 43% came to know about this service through retailers and
distributors.
 Those farmers who are educated they are few thus only 5% of farmers know
about RML services through leaflets or posters.
 5% through friends and about 10 % are those who came to know about RML
through all of them above.

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3) Which out of the services you like most/ beneficial to you?

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
weather news crop advisory mandi rates agriculture news

 25% farmers out of those who are aware about RML said weather news is most
beneficial and for 25% information about mandi rates is useful.
 While 30% said crop advisory is beneficial and rest 20% taking advantage of
agricultural news.

4) Are you benefited out of it?

Benefits

Yes
37%

No
63%

 Answers for this question were not much in favor of Thomson Reuters 63% farmers
said RML is not beneficial for them, they are those farmers who are not educated and
thus not aware about RML and not able to understand the information Thomson
Reuters providing to them through RML.

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

 37% percent said yes RML services are beneficial for them, they are those who are
educated or take help from other few educated farmers to understand the RML
services. They found its services regarding mandi rates very much beneficial as it
save their time; they get all the information about changes in mandi rates in their
hands through SMS.

5)  Would you like to continue using services?

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
yes No

 When I asked them would they like to continue using these services 37 % farmers
said ‘yes’ because RML weather news, mandi rate, agriculture news and crop
advisory services are beneficial to them.
 But 63% farmers said ‘No’, they are not able to understand RML services because
they are not educated can’t read and understand the information provided through
SMS to them.

6) Have you recommended this Product to your friends?

45%
yes
no
55%

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 45% farmers said yes they would like to recommend this product to their other farmer
friends who are educated and can take advantages of RML services.
 55% farmers said NO because they are not interested in these services.

7) Are you aware of RML Toll-free-No.?

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
yes no

 Most of the farmers are not aware of the RML toll-free-no.

 Only 20% farmers are aware of RML toll free numbers.

8)  Do you know process of changing Crops?

30%

yes
no

70%

 30% said yes they know the process of changing crops.

 But 70% farmers don’t know the process of changing crops because they are not
educated and like traditional agriculture methods or processes of changing crops only.

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9) Your Satisfaction with the Product

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

 65 % farmers are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied only 25 % educated farmers are
satisfied with RML services.
 5 % are very satisfied they would like to recommend RML services to their other
educated or uneducated farmer friends so that they can take benefits of RML services
also.
 1% are dissatisfied and 3% can’t say anything, they are confuse.

10) Product fulfilled your expectation up to

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
higher good lower not fullfiled expectations

 Only 5% farmers said RML highly fulfilled their expectations and 25% farmers said
RML services are good, they fulfilled their expectations by providing them weather
news, mandi rates information, crop advisory and agriculture news.
 65% said RML or Thomson Reuters products fulfilled their expectations at lower
level as they don’t understand their services. And 5% said their products not fulfilled
their expectations.

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Questionnaire (Retailers)

1)  Are you aware of the RML Process completely?

30%

yes
no

70%

Only 30% retailers are not aware of the RML process completely rest 70% retailers are
completely aware about the RML process.

2)   Do you know the Process of Activation of Card?

90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

yes
no

 Most of the retailers know the process of activation of card, they should know about
it at least for their business, these are basic things. But still 11% retailers don’t even
know the process of activation of card.

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3)  What you find good in RML that can attract farmers?

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
weather news crop advisory mandi rates agriculture news

 According to retailers point of view information about Mandi rates provided by RML
attract the farmers most, percentage for this is 45%, because RML provide them
information about mandi rates in their hands and save their time as they don’t need to
visit mandis for mandi rate information.
 After that Crop advisory and weather news also attract the farmers 20% and 20%
respectively and in last agriculture news and percentage is 15 %.

4) Do you have PoP?

15%

yes
no

85%

 85% retailers have PoP AND 15% have no PoP.

5)  Is Product easily accessible to you?

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

yes
no

 70% retailers said yes product is easily accessible to them.

 But for 30% retailers’ product is not easily accessible.

6) Have you taken feedback from farmers (existing users)?

13%

yes
no

87%

 87% retailers said yes they taken feedback from farmers but response of
farmers toward RML services was not good.
 And 13% retailers take no feedback.

7) Did sale team visit or phone you time to time?

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
yes no

 Answer of 80% retailers was yes when I asked them that sale team visit or phone
them time to time or not.
 And 10% said no. They are not satisfied with the Thomson Reuters sale team’s
services.

8)  Are you happy with the process?

15%

yes
no

85%

 85% retailers are happy with this process.

 But 15% retailers are not happy.

      
KEY FINDINGS

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1) Farmers are not fully satisfied with the services of RML- Thomson Reuters. Because
they are not educated and not able to understand the information properly Thomson
Reuters giving to them by SMS services.
2) Tthe subsidies given by the central govt. do not reach to the farmers according to the
govt. plan.
3) The intermediate is involved in the govt. offices do not give the proper information
regarding subsidies.
4) The rate of the crops fluctuates in the market everyday like Basmati, wheat and sarson.
The weather forecast regarding the rain is not accurate it may be because of mansoon.
5) The language in the SMS with Punjabi features in English is bit of concern for the
farmers. They can’t understand the SMS language as it is written in Punjabi as the
word is of English.
6) Farmers who are satisfied with the services:-
 Parminder Singh from village “Bhakna” is fully satisfied with the services; he
got good response for the subsidies for the tractor and piniri.
 Sandeep Singh from village “Hoshiarnagar” is also satisfied with the subsidies;
he got the subsidy on zinc.
 Ravi Sher Singh from the village “Cheecha” is satisfied from the mandi rates
and subsidy.

These are some satisfied customers and other are having some problems regarding the
services it may be due to the lack of interest and less knowledge about the product.

7) Very less farmers are aware about RML services.

8) Farmers who are aware about the services, RML helping them to enhance their crop
yields and improve their productivity over a very wide range of produce including
onion, cotton, soybean, pulses, pomegranates and orange.
9) Reuters will be developing Reuters Market Light, from an information service, to a
full mobile news, information and price facilitator.

SUGGESTIONS
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Price should be less:-

Thomson Reuters charge 850 Rs annually for these services, this price is high, small farmers
can’t afford this price that’s why they don’t show there interest in subscription of these
services. Thus they should reduce their price for these services, should be up to 500 Rs
annually so that at least those farmers who are educated enough to understand these services
can subscribe there services and not step backward just because of high prices.

Should avoid Selling through societies:-

Selling should be face to face not through societies, because sometimes societies don’t
provide proper information or transaction of information is not at time.

Promotional Activities-
 Field Demonstration.
 Advertisement.
 Jeep Campaign.

The most effective promotional activities are field demonstration, jeep campaign.
Because of that most of the farmers are illiterates so they can only understand by field
demonstration and jeep campaign. When I talk to the farmers they told that every company
told that their product is good but when we see the effect of product in the fieldis good or bad
then we decide that this product is good or not.
Another promotional activity is jeep campaign which is most effective because by the
jeep company directly aware to the farmers.

Timely Availability-
Subsidies should be timely available, because most of the farmer objection they not
get subsidies at time. Due to unavailability retailer demanding high price to the farmers, that
should be effective to farmer’s perception.

Awareness of RML-
Awareness of RML is not good, farmers don’t know “how to use the information
provided them by SMS” and “what the advantage of RML” they are habituated to used the
traditional farming. About RML Phospho-gypsum farmers they don’t know. Company
should give preference of advertisement and arrange farmer meeting in village and gave
some knowledge about RML.

CONCLUSION
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At the last, I concluded that in the company’s point of view, the overall performance is not
that well in both the districts, AMRITSAR and JALANDHAR. In both the districts there are
less promotional activities. Farmers are not aware about the company’s services.

Most of the farmers are small farmers and they are not educated enough to understand the
services of RML, they can’t read the messages of weather news, mandi rates, crop advisory
and agriculture news information. For them RML services are not useful. But few farmers,
educated farmers said that RML services are beneficial for them. They are taking advantages
of their weather news, mandi rate informations etc. But because of their high annual charges
for these services some educated farmers also don’t show their interest in RML services, so
they should reduce their prices for these services so that farmers can afford their services.

Others include:

• The company should ensure the timely availability of their products or subsidies at a
particular place based on demand.
• There should be appropriate provisions of information flow among the farmers about
the new products launched.
• The company should ensure the regular visit of their representatives to solve the
problems of farmers at their best related to the products.

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Rajesh Sahni, Roll No. 264

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://thomsonreuters.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/michaellynton/thomson-reuters-magazine

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL0134842920071001

References:-

 Thomson Reuters Magazine – Solutions ( Grow your business )

 Kotler P. (2000) “Marketing Management,” Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
International.

 Kotler P. and Armstrong G. (2004) “principle of marketing” (10th edition) New

Jersey: prentice hall
 Mr. Rajinder Bawa ( Area Sales Manager, Amritsar)
 Mr. Rakesh Anand ( Area Sales Manager, Jalandhar)
 Reuters — About Reuters — About us
 Malhotra Naresh K., “Marketing Research”, An Applied Orientation, 5th edition.

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