THE ITC ECHOUPAL

Faryal Najam
Hammad Salahud-Din
Shahzad Salahud-Din
Mahnoor Quddous

INDIA; Agriculture sector is home to 72% of the population and 60% of

the nations workforce.

exercise the strategic choice of

contribution and securing the competitiveness of the whole value
chain which it is a part.
The main purpose of ITC is to

IBD was the agricultural export division of the ITC and it was

lagging behind

other divisions by the 1999.

In March 1999 Sivakumar was faced with the

speed up

challenge to

IBD through a new business plan.

Deveshwars idea of

digital technologies

came in handy

INTRODUCTION

Inbound
logistics
by farmer
(30-40
km)

Display &
Inspection
in Mandi

Auction
CA

Weighing
&
Payment

ITC
outbound
logistics

TRADITIONAL MANDI
SYSTEM

 5 processing units in Madhya

Pradesh

39 warehouses + 36
44 points for farmer
ITCs hub- the soybeans are

weighed on a
computerized

weighbridge

8400 villages

80% of soyabean and wheat

growing areas.
and the weight was multiplied by

the ITCs published price.

Immediate payment

ITC
HUB
ITC paid Sanchalak
0.5% commission
on sale of
soyabean.
Another
opportunity to earn
2-3% on item such
as herbicides,
sowing seeds
-order placement

ECHOU
PAL
Sivakumar and his

team conceived
the initiative
of ITCs eChaupal.

The eChaupal
was based on the

knowledge
sharing
present in the
traditional
chaupal model.

WHAT IS E-CHOUPAL
initiative of ITC, to link directly
with farmers via the internet for procurement

E-Choupal is a

of agriculture and aquaculture products like soyabeans,

wheat, coffee etc.
The E-Choupal system was introduced in 1999.

installs computers with

internet access to offer farmers up-to-date
marketing and agriculture information.

The programme

Updated continuously by ITC Bhopal office

Setup
cost
$3762

Other
Costs
$2213
EChoupa
l

E-CHOUPAL
Weather
Best
practices

Websit
e

Crop
informati
on
Market
informati
on

E-CHOUPAL
cash flow
ITC saved $5/ton on
Immediate

Delivery of real time

information
freight cost
One-stop-shop
Farmer earned increase of
STRENGTHS $8/ton
Transparent and fast
process

Use of technology
Low transaction cost

E-CHOUPAL
relies on

infrastructure

Illiteracy

Lack of availability of

Electricity and
telecommunication
WEAKNESSE
S

Dependency on

Sanchalak

PROCESS

ITC
Access to underserved
rural markets

agriculture
goods

Supply of

Opportunitie
s
Combine shareholder
value to create
national value

Control of

quality

Higher quality>competitive pricing in

international markets

FUTURE PLAN
Expand / Diversify (aqua products)

Provide more services to farmers to overcome

weaknesses of the system (E-choupal)

New Market move out from Madhya Pardesh