C-DAC organises discussion; panellists speak about Digital Opportunity

On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of Prime Minister’s dream project ‘Digital India Initiative, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing C-DAC housed at NIT Silchar organised a panel discussion.

The session was moderated by Dr. Sudipto Roy, Dean School of Technology at Assam University Silchar while Arindam Gupta – Assam – Tribune, Biswajit Paul – QuickObook, Dhiraj Jain – Design India, Pavel Kishore Haari – MedOnline, Neeraj Kumar – SBI, Prof Sudipta Roy – Assam University, Bani Saha and Arunangshu Nag – Foodrider, Dr. K S Selvakumar – C-DAC Silchar and Hrijoy Kanungo – Barak Bulletin shared their views.

Staff Correspondent, Assam Tribune, Arindam Gupta started the discussion by asking the panelists to shed their point of view on “digital literacy” and how it could be introduced to people of the city along with the villages.

Biswajit Paul founder and CEO of QuickObook, a platform that enables one to book doctor’s appointment online, was of the opinion that media plays a vital role in introducing digital literacy. He also mentioned that the government has introduced different grants to help entrepreneurs which people are not even aware of. He said it is the job of the media to spread the news and his view was media hardly pays any attention in highlighting the entrepreneurship opportunities.

Hrijoy Kanungo, executive producer, Barak Bulletin, replied to Paul by shedding light on the scope of media. He said Barak Bulletin a hyperlocal news publication which started a just a year back (February 2, 2018) is now read by 5 lakh monthly unique readers. He said Barak Bulletin is planning to roll out a new video initiative to help startups reach out to the mass. Kanungo highlighted the growing penetration of smartphones and said while TV is there it is the smaller screen where people are spending most of their time and that is a great medium for generating awareness. But according to him, the presentation is key and one must put a lot of efforts in whatever they are doing.

Bani Saha and Arunangshu Nag, founders of Foodrider an aggregator which delivers food at doorsteps were asked how they plan to compete with Zomato which recently rolled out operations in Silchar. Foodrider spokespeople said they are planning to expand their venture by collaborating with housewives who are good at cooking. They also highlighted the importance of marketing and that is where they would like to focus in times ahead.

Neeraj Kumar of SBI spoke about the financial help available for startups and how e-farms could get loans different under schemes. Dhiraj Jain of Design India a venture that sells customised merchandises at a very affordable price point spoke about the e-commerce opportunities and challenges in Silchar.

All the panelists were then felicitated by C-DAC for attending the event. The panelists summed up by saying events such as this are very encouraging for startups and plays a vital role in generating awareness.