ITC has constantly endeavoured to contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of Indian agriculture by helping the farmer significantly improve crop quality and productivity. ITC is currently engaged in imparting a revolutionary dimension to its rural partnership by leveraging information technology to elevate the Indian farmer to a new order of empowerment. Project 'e-Choupal', ITC's pioneering click & mortar initiative, links the Indian farmer with domestic and international markets to help him realise a better value for his produce. It is the largest Internet-based intervention in rural India by the corporate sector. It already reaches out to more than half a million farmers to provide web-enabled real-time information on the weather, best farming practices  and commodity prices. Through virtual clustering, these 'e-Choupals' are conferring the power of scale on even the smallest of individual farmers. This first-of-its-kind rural e-infrastructure will dramatically enhance efficiency in the purchase and sale of agri-inputs and farm produce, with direct benefits to the farmer. 770 'e-Choupals' are already operational, covering 4,500 villages across four States in India. With the 'e-Choupal' project slated to expand to 100,000 villages, i.e. 1/6th of India's villages, in the next 5 to 7 years, ITC aspires to transform the fundamentals of farm economics in India.