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Farmers selling directly to ITC through e-choupal channel receives higher price for their crops, as compared to that in mandi, on an average of about 2.5% higher. ITC also saves about 2.5% which they would pay as commission to the traders or as transport charges.
Also, they would get better quality goods, higher yields and a sense of empowerment. Not only this, they also help the farmers in improving their crop quality and yield. For example, laboratory as Aqua Centre in Kakinada helps farmers to detect deadly white spot virus in shrimp seeds and is said to have revolutionalized the concept of shrimp seed testing. A complement to this system of e-choupal is that seed producers such as Monsanto and fertilizer manufacturers like Nagarjuna fertilizers take orders and market their products through e-choupal sites.

Thus, in e-choupal the very beneficiary gets the benefits of this system. It is one of the best applications of ICT and has used innovated supply chain model which has caught the eye of many academicians.

Moreover, a small businessman, with the help of e-commerce, can take his business global with minimal cost. He can create a single focal point of enquires about their local businesses and their offerings, selling his product globally. He can use internet for his marketing activities, handling customer problems, sales enquiries, announcing new products and services and many more things like this. ITC’s e-choupal is an ideal example of a corporate using e-commerce to help in rural growth. If only others would follow the footstep, which is not far ahead, a big revolution in rural India awaits us.

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* Contributed by: -
Nishant Waghela,
Alumni of IIM Ahmedabad,
Working at SBI, Mumbai.