ITC eyes $2.5 bn from e-choupals

Betting big on its rural initiative e-choupal, ITC hopes the business to generate revenues of $2.5 billion - almost equivalent to the current size of the company - by 2010 as it looks to expand to newer states.

"We are currently doing business worth $500 million through the e-choupals and with further expansion as well as diversification, this is going to rise to around $2.5 billion by 2010," M Srinivasa Rao, head of new initiatives at ITC international business division said.

Rao said the company currently has 5,600 e-choupals in six states covering 35,000 villages catering around 3.5 million farmers.

"Our target is to have 20,000 e-choupal centres by 2010 when we expand to 15 states, targeting 1,00,000 villages and 25 million farmers," he said, on the sidelines of a conference of AIMA.

Through the e-Choupals, which are information technology-driven initiative, ITC delivers real-time information and customised knowledge to improve the farmer's decision-making ability, thereby better aligning farm output to market demands, securing better quality, productivity and improved price discovery.

The model helps aggregate demand in the nature of a virtual producers' co-operative, in the process facilitating access to higher quality farm inputs at lower costs for the farmer, also creating a direct marketing channel for the farmer as well as for the company.

Rao said as the company worked on expanding the model, it would look at a larger range of agri commodities, spices, cotton and horticulture.

The company is also on an expansion mode for Choupal Saagars - its rural retail initiative, which targets the farmers and caters to his various needs like farm implements and equipments, healthcare, apart from acting as a normal retail outlet for various consumer products.

"In the next few months, we will add around 35 new choupal saagars and by 2010, hope to increase their number to 100-200," Rao said.