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 Our social development initiatives harmonise our goals to
create shareholder value and make a substantial contribution
to society through a number of unique value chains that
converge with our business plans.
The primary focus is to create sustainable sources of
farm and off-farm livelihoods and improve the social
infrastructure, especially in areas that impact women and
children.
We conduct Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs) at all
new project sites to assess baseline data. The PRAs are also
instrumental in highlighting stakeholder needs that lead to
appropriate project design. During the implementation phase,
we review projects on a quarterly basis on key impact
indicators for each intervention.
Web-enablement of the
Indian farmer |
ITC e-Choupal
ITC’s pioneering e-Choupal initiative is a powerful
illustration of linking business purpose with a larger
societal purpose. The e-Choupal leverages the power of the
internet to empower the small and marginal farmer with a
host of services related to know-how, best practices, timely
and relevant weather information, transparent discovery of
prices and much more. This digital infrastructure is also increasingly being used for channelising services related to credit and insurance and can be extended to areas such as health, education and entertainment. It can also serve as a strong foundation for linking small and marginal farmers to futures markets to facilitate farmer risk management. The access to
e-Choupals, within walking distance from the farm gate, is supplemented through physical infrastructure – the ITC Choupal Saagar – which functions as a hub for a cluster of villages within tractorable distance. These made-to-design hubs also serve as warehouses, and as rural hypermarkets for a variety of goods. In effect, the e-Choupal infrastructure is potentially an efficient delivery channel for rural development and an instrument for converting village populations into vibrant economic organisations.
The network currently comprises 6,400
choupals reaching out to more than 3.5 million farmers in
38,500 villages in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. |
