INTRODUCTION

In today’s ear of information and technology Indian farmers were left behind because of the poor
infrastructure and knowledge. Till the year 2000 our rural areas lacked proper communication
facilities. Rural areas play an important role in the economy of a nation and especially in India
where 65% of the population lives in rural areas so seeing the need of time ITC Limited took an
initiative and launched “E-choupal” in June 2000.

E-choupal is an innovative way of connecting farmers to internet where the farmers can directly
negotiate and sale their produce to ITC Limited. The Online access was not only limited to
selling of their produce but it also enable farmers to obtain information about the current mandi
prices and the places from where they can buy seeds and fertilizers. It also helps farmer to get
educated about the latest agriculture advancements including the new innovative ways of
farming practices that helps farmers in improving the quality of their Crops and ultimately helps
in obtaining a better price for their produce.

E-choupals by ITC Limited is a great hit which crosses the number of 6100 e-choupals till 2018
and getting operated in 40,000 villages across 10 states and affecting the lives of more than 4
million farmers. ITC e-Choupal's achievements case studies are studied and documented by
various premier institutions, publications and banks including some prestigious names like the
Harvard Business School, World Bank and The Economist.

Agenda of ITC behind E-Choupal

Indian Tobacco Company Limited latterly renamed as ITC Limited in 2005 by Boston
Consulting Group. ITC Limited is a Kolkata (West Bengal) based company that has five diverse
businesses including Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Agri-Business , Information
Technology(IT), Hotels, Paperboards & Packaging. ITC is a 100 years old company with an
annual turnover of US$8.31 billion and a market capitalization of US$45 billion.
ITC Fails in rural marketing

India where 65 % of the population lives in rural areas , ITC was lacking behind in Rural
marketing and was unable to get enough profits from rural markets till 2000. The rural markets
potential was untapped by ITC because of following reasons:

a) Market share: market share of ITC was very less in rural areas only 10% of the total
revenue of ITC was coming from rural area that time. HUL and P&G was having the
major market share in rural area that time.
b) Competitors: HUL, P&G and Dabar was having large market share and their market
pricing strategy was a push back for ITC to enter into rural markets of India.

Reasons for low market share of ITC :

ITC products were looked as premium products those were not suitable for rural market. Their
distribution channels are also poor but the main reason for the setback was their brand positing;
as ITC had a history of being a Tobacco company hence it was harming its image as a FMCG
leader.

ITC used e-choupals as a way out

E-choupal helps ITC in various aspects those are discussed below:

1. Brand image: As ITC had a history of being a Tobacco company whichwas harming its
image as a FMCG leader. E-choupal which is an initiative of connecting farmers to
internet is a bold and heroic move that give a better brad image to itc.

2. Marketing : ITC firmly believe on the strategy of “ Jo dikta hai, wahi bikta hai” and e-
choupals were a great way of being into limelight.

3. Distribution channels: Retailers those orders through e-choupals use to get extra
margin on profits hence online access to farmer ultimately helps ITC to better there
Distribution channel by tracking the rural demand.
WHY E-Choupal Got a success?

E-choupals had various reasons for being that hit. Some of the reasons are mentioned below.

1. Their digital Platform with dynamic content helps farmers to increase production and hence
got a word of mouth promotion.
2. Their platform was easy to understand and an efficient 24x7 helpdesk also had a plus point in the
better user interface.
3. Better prices and operational effectiveness compared to conventional market. Here is a
table showing the effectiveness of e-choupal over conventional market.

Source: http://www.planningcommission.gov.in/reports
Conclusion

E-Choupal is successful initiative that helps farmers with strong training programs and also helps
farmers in connecting digitally with rest of the world. It crosses the number of 6100 e-choupals
till 2018 and getting operated in 40,000 villages across 10 states and affecting the lives of more
than 4 million farmers. ICT in rural area got a boom because of e-choupals. ITC as a company is
able to make a better brand image than its past because of E-choupal .Moreover ITC shows the
world an innovative and effective way of rural marketing. The operational effectiveness of the E-
choupals includes better pricing by eliminating the use of middlemen and a better demand
forecasting technique by the digital tracking of demand. E-choupals also helps in people
empowerment and makes their life easy to some extent.