VIR India, a Bangalore-based company, formed to provide numerous benefits to the Armed Forces, launched its product portal.
The company’s co-founders presented the concept behind the initiative, and the value-proposition created so far. Present was an august gathering of military officers and the Company’s business partners.
The event was marked by two creative performances, one by the internationally renowned artist AV Ilango, who painted live, an oil canvas in a tribute to the armed forces. While he painted, Deepa Chakravarthy, a well-known Chennai-based danseuse gave a Mohiniyattam dance-recital on the theme of veeram (bravery).
VIR India is a social impact initiative, created exclusively for the Armed Forces. As India’s first private digital platform for the Armed and Paramilitary Forces, VIR India aims to enhance and enrich the lives of military personnel and their families, from inception of service to post-retirement, touching military lives in every possible way. In order to show the citizen’s respect to the military community and pay them back for their service and sacrifice, the Company proposes to enter into signed agreements with various business houses to extend benefits, discounts and value-additions of every kind to military personnel.
The Company has already signed agreements with a number of business partners from the hospitality and F&B industry, retail houses - both online and offline, and a few others.
The initiative has been started by Manoj Rammohan MC, a Chennai-based industrialist. The co-founders believe that a citizen initiative of this kind expresses solidarity with the armed forces and demonstrates the citizenry’s support towards the men and women who sacrifice so much for the country’s security.
This kind of support for the military community creates a social impact that not just provides a huge boost to morale of this important set of people, but also strengthens a nation's society, transcending the material gains that VIR India’s business model proposes.
VIR India company was formed in 2015, and today has a core-team of four members. The concept is to provide Armed Forces personnel with a VIR India membership that enables them to avail exclusive privileges and offers. These privileges are secured through partnerships with business entities, both offline entities and those retailing or transacting online.
Through these partnerships, discounts and/or special offers are offered to the VIR community, using both online and offline processes. The nature of the privilege extended is entirely as per the Partner's choosing.
Thus, VIR India also creates a simple platform for patriotic and like-minded business entities to funnel their benefits. As a matter of policy, VIR India does not take a share of any discount or privilege extended by their business partners, and any benefit agreed upon is fully passed on to the military community. This facility is available for both serving and retired personnel, and of course, their immediate family members.
Eventually, VIR India hopes to expand their operations pan-India, with the intent to reach out to the entire 80-90 lakh strong community, including families.
“This outreach will of course require some investor interest, and that is what we are currently on the lookout for”, says Manoj MC, the founder, in an exclusive to this paper.
“Our business plan is ready, and we have analysed the numbers quite exhaustively. We hope to secure the funding by the end of this quarter. Fingers-crossed.”
