The immense potential of Indian agriculture is waiting to be unleashed. The endemic constraints that shackle this sector are well known – fragmented farms, weak infrastructure, numerous

e-Choupal 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,

intermediaries, excessive dependence on the monsoon, variations between different agro-climatic zones, among many others. These pose their own challenges to improving productivity of land and quality of crops. The unfortunate result is inconsistent quality and uncompetitive prices, making it difficult for the farmer to sell his produce in the world market.

ITC's trail-blazing answer to these problems is the e-Choupal initiative; the single-largest information technology-based intervention by a corporate entity in rural India. Transforming the Indian farmer into a progressive knowledge-seeking netizen. Enriching the farmer with knowledge; elevating him to a new order of empowerment.

For the first time, the stereotype image of the farmer on his bullock cart made way for the e-farmer, browsing the e-Choupal website. Farmers now log on to the site through Internet kiosks in their villages to order high quality agri-inputs, get information on best farming practices, prevailing market prices for their crops at home and abroad and the weather forecast - all in the local language. There are 4 crop-specific e-Choupal websites covering soya, coffee, aqua and wheat.

process facilitating access to higher quality farm inputs at lower costs for the farmer.

The e-Choupal initiative also creates a direct marketing channel, eliminating wasteful intermediation and multiple handling, thus reducing transaction costs and making logistics efficient. It links farmers - large and small alike - to consumers in local and global markets through ITC's farmgate sourcing and traditional capabilities related to branding, trade marketing and distribution. The e-Choupal project is already benefiting 1.2 million farmers. Over the next decade, the e-Choupal network will cover over 100,000 villages, representing 1/6th of rural India, and create more than 10 million e-farmers.