Previous | Next

ITC has continued to build new infrastructure by supplementing the farmgate presence of e-Choupal with new physical infrastructure – rural marketing hubs called Choupal Saagars, positioned within tractorable distance of 30 e-Choupal centres and their user communities.

The e-Choupal – Choupal Saagar hub and spoke combination is unprecedented grassroots click and mortar infrastructure transporting rural local economies to a new level of productivity and consumption.

Choupal Saagars offer a combination of services to rural India.
Made-to-design agri-business hubs, they function as:

ITC agri-sourcing centres providing farmers a transparent best price sales window,
shopping centres bringing a range of products comparable to urban levels of choice, and
facilitation centres delivering a host of farm-related services – training, soil testing, product quality certification, medical and clinical services, cafeteria and fuel station. 24 Choupal Saagar hubs are already in operation in 3 states, to grow to 100 by 2010.

Springboard for competitive farming

The digital and physical infrastructure has a third dimension. It galvanises ITC’s constant agency for propagating adoption of best practices in farming and soil and water management.

In 2006-07, ITC’s unique paid Choupal Khet Pradarshan farm extension service conducted over 15,000 FIeld demonstrations in 9 states. This continuous interaction sustains the rising tide of productivity channeled by the click and mortar infrastructure.

The 1 million tons of wheat sourced by ITC over e-Choupal – strategically supporting its packaged foods business – makes e-Choupal robust and open, a successful application of business logic to serve a larger cause.


	e-Choupal is transforming the traditional, low value agricultural marketplace into an open arena – enabling more people to participate and succeed in the rural economy.