Citizen First
As a Company that continuously strives to
be ‘Citizen First’, ITC attaches critical importance to its responsibility to
contribute to the ‘triple bottom line’, namely the augmentation of economic,
ecological and social capital. This commitment finds expression in the Company’s
sustainable development philosophy, which recognises the need to not only preserve but
also enrich precious environmental resources while providing a safe and healthy workplace
for its employees.
ITC’s social development initiatives
harmonise the Company’s endeavour to create shareholder value with making a
substantial contribution to society. The thrust of the Company’s social sector
investment is in four areas:(a) Web-enablement of the Indian farmer through the e-Choupal
initiative; (b) Natural resource management, which includes wasteland, watershed and
agriculture development; (c) Sustainable livelihood creation, comprising genetic
improvement in livestock productivity and women’s economic empowerment; and (d)
Community development, with focus on primary education and health & sanitation.
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Web-enablement
of the
Indian farmer
The e-Choupal initiative
Continuing the expansion of
its rural footprint, ITC scaled up the total number of e-Choupals to 6000. The reach of
the initiative has widened to nearly 36,000 villages, empowering over 3.5 million farmers
in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
The e-Choupal, apart from
imparting knowhow and facilitating price discovery for the farmer, is fast becoming a
two-way distribution channel for goods and services. During the year, significant progress
was made in the marketing of products and services through the e-Choupal channel, with
throughput doubling to almost Rs 100 crores. The channel now distributes products from 45
companies – both public and private sector – in categories ranging from FMCG and
consumer durables to automotive and agri inputs.
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