Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday inaugurated the first 'Cyber Grameen Centre' in Venkatachalam, his native village, in Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.

The Cyber Grameen Centre provides telecom services, distance learning, high speed internet and e-mail facilities in the local language, shopping, agriculture and horticulture services, banking, insurance, video conferencing, digital entertainment, and e-governance.

The first-of-its kind rural broadband pilot project, promoted by the Chennai-based Swarna Bharat Trust, has put Venkatachalam village on the global communications map.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and media baron Ramoji Rao too part in the launch through video conference  from Hyderabad and Ramoji Film City respectively.

Union Minister for Urban Development Anant Kumar and Union Ministers for State Sumitra Mahajan and Rajesh Maharia, including other ministers were also present for the launch.

Organisations involved in the project are the Global Hospital and Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences for telemedicine, Andhra Bank the Indian Bank for banking services, United India Insurance Company for insurance services, and SSI-CMTES for training of youth in IT applications.

Chandrababu Naidu said the local self-help groups of women would benefit extensively from this centre, as they will now be able to market their products to the outside world through the internet. The villagers can now communicate via video conference with other cyber centers.

These centers can also work as a franchise for the state government and operate like e-Seva centers, collecting taxes and utility service charges from the people.

The Swarna Bharat Trust has planned to implement the Cyber Grameen Project throughout the state at a cost of Rs 1.2 billion. The Trust has proposed to set up 70 to 100 such Cyber Centers in each of the 23 districts of the state.

Venkaiah Naidu informed the chief minister that the IT Ministry has agreed to release Rs 100 million to provide connectivity to all the villages in Nellore district.