IIT Bombay-developed app Lokacart is looking to solve inventory woes of small businesses and farmers

The e-commerce platform, developed jointly by Professor Ganesh Ramakrishnan and Ashvin Gami, looks to address inventory management woes of small businesses and farmers. The app has been developed for Android and iOS platforms. Speaking to Moneycontrol, Ramakrishnan said the app has been developed after gathering feedback through various meetings and discussions with farmers and farmer groups. “This app is tailor-made for small enterprises. The idea behind Lokacart was to complement the existing arrangements in the MSME market place. We did not want to disrupt existing arrangements of customers with their suppliers. Many other e-commerce platforms take the discount model. But we realise that every seller has an USP and therefore, we have stayed away from that model. There are a lot of hidden costs in the discount model and we don’t want to overload the customer with these comparisons,” he told Moneycontrol. “They are already operating in other areas and have channel partners. Lokacart will be leveraging that avenue as it is very robust. They will be able to guide the sellers on how to use the app,” he said.