E-Choupal- An Initiative by ITC Limited

E-Choupal

 E-Choupal is an initiative of ITC Limited, a large multi business conglomerate in India, to link directly with rural farmers via the Internet for procurement of agricultural and aquaculture products like soybeans, wheat, coffee, and prawns.

E-Choupal was conceived to tackle the challenges posed by the unique features of Indian agriculture, characterized by fragmented farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement of numerous intermediaries. The programme involves the installation of computers with Internet access in rural areas of India to offer farmers up-to-date marketing and agricultural information.

Effects of e-Choupal

ITC Limited has now provided computers and Internet access in rural areas across several agricultural regions of the country, where the farmers can directly negotiate the sale of their produce with ITC Limited. This online access enables farmers to obtain information on mandi prices, and good farming practices, and to place orders for agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilizers. This helps farmers improve the quality of their products, and helps in obtaining a better price. Each ITC Limited kiosk having Internet access is run by a sanchalak — a trained farmer. The computer is housed in the sanchalak's house and is linked to the Internet via phone lines or by a VSAT connection. Each installation serves an average of 600 farmers in the surrounding ten villages within about a 5 km radius. The sanchalak bears some operating cost but in return earns a service fee for the e-transactions done through his e-Choupal. The warehouse hub is managed by the same traditional middle-men, now called samyojaks, but with no exploitative power due to the reorganisation. Indeed these middlemen make up for the lack of infrastructure and fulfill critical jobs like cash disbursement, quantity aggregation and transportation.

Since the introduction of e-Choupal services, farmers have seen a rise in their income levels because of a rise in yields, improvement in quality of output, and a fall in transaction costs. Even small farmers have gained from the initiative. Customized and relevant knowledge is offered to the farmers despite heterogeneous cultures, climates and scales of production. Farmers can get real-time information despite their physical distance from the mandis. The system saves procurement costs for ITC Limited. The farmers do not pay for the information and knowledge they get from e-Choupals; the principle is to inform, empower and compete. At the same time ITC Limited has obtained benefits from the programme:

1. elimination of non value added activities

2. differentiated product through identity preserved supply chains

3. value added products traceable to farm practices

4. e-market place for spot transactions and support services to futures exchange

There are presently 6,500 e-Choupals in operation. ITC Limited plans to scale up to 20,000 e-Choupals by 2012 covering 100,000 villages in 15 states, servicing 15 million farmers.

PROCESS AT GLANCE

When you run Corporate India's largest, most ambitious and most celebrated rural initiative, you better know the following:

1) That adversities could crop up unexpectedly.

2) That some adversities can be turned into opportunities.

3) And that every little opportunity has to be made most of.

It was so with ITC, the company behind the e-Choupal initiative that had reached four million farmers in six states in six years till 2006. At one point, the company was opening 5-6 e-Choupals a day and had a target of reaching 100 million farmers. That hit a roadblock of sorts in 2006-07. The very basis of the e-Choupal's core business-commodity sourcing from farmers directly-was endangered with the government clamping down on companies trading with farmers directly. The trigger for the government reaction was the spike in wholesale price inflation, which rose close to double-digit figures in case of some commodities in 2006-07.

Though the impact varied from state to state, the larger foreboding was loud and clear: The acts of government taken in the national interest could hobble e-Choupal's anchor business, even if temporarily. What does the company do then? Roll out plans for Version 3 of e-Choupal that will add at least two more anchor businesses to start with and deepen the engagement with individual farmers way beyond what was being done in Version 1 and 2. "The idea is to discover new anchor businesses and try and insulate the e-Choupal model from the risks of reversal in government's agri reforms," says S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive, Agri-Business, ITC, and the man who scripted the e-Choupal model of business.

Technologically, it would mean adding mobile phones to the existing channels of Net-based computers and Choupal Saagars, the one-stop shops catering to all the needs of the rural community. As the company scoped around for new opportunities, it found many-some emerging from the adversities that have got it rethinking. These opportunities not only make transition to Version 3 possible, but also help modify the existing strengths of Version 1 & 2 (see box above). It's spotting of these opportunities and turning them into current and future businesses that have become a case study in persevering with rural India.

OPPORTUNITY: FARMERS WILLING TO INVEST MORE
RESPONSE: OFFER THEM SERVICES THEY REALLY NEED, AND ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR

Though the average farm productivity is still low in India, the last 10 years have seen an unprecedented rise in farmers' income. This has been driven by a record increase in the price of agricultural produce (government's minimum support prices for food grains alone have risen by 30-90 per cent in two years) and a good run with monsoons-this year's deficiency notwithstanding.

Higher income means farmers are ready and willing to invest more-and one of their critical investment needs is in getting agriculture services. So far, agri services like helping farmers improve crop techniques and advice on ways to improve farm productivity has mostly been provided by the government and for free. But the quality of service has been poor, rendering them useless. In e-Choupal's Version 2, services like weather, agri inputs and pricing were provided through Sanchalaks (e-Choupal coordinators) through multimedia presentations made on village computers, but these services were customised only for crops and regions. Besides, no money was charged for these services. Under Version 3, the plan is to deliver personalised agri services to individual farmers via mobile phones.

ITC has recently signed a memorandum with Nokia for this. The company already powers some of Nokia's "Life Tools" meant for farmers. Right now the information dissemination is limited and one-way-from company to the farmer. ITC plans to make the information flow two-way. A farmer will be able to provide information on, say, the type of soil, the date of sowing and the kind of crop to the company. The company can then process these inputs and give him very specific advice.

Imagine getting such inputs from millions of farmers across the country. Apart from creating economic value by offering personalised services to farmers, the data thus generated could be of immense value to companies selling farm inputs (e.g. seeds, fertilisers, pesticides), financial firms and government planners. In sum, personalised agri services will add a second anchor business to e-Choupal- keeping its core philosophy of complementing the farmer's good with the company's good intact.

OPPORTUNITY: VILLAGES CLOSER TO TOWN MOVING AWAY FROM AGRICULTURE

RESPONSE: PROVIDE JOB INFORMATION & SKILL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES IN VILLAGES

 With rural youth, especially in villages closer to towns, shunning agriculture and farm labour, ITC sees vast opportunities in using e-Choupals as centres for information on job vacancies and-eventually-providing skills that help increase the employability of rural youth.

So, e-Choupals are also being geared as rural employment exchanges, which will connect the rural youth with jobs. This will be a new anchor business with a clear revenue model. Already, on August 11, 2009, e-Choupal in alliance with Monster India, the leading online career and recruitment resource, has launched Rozgarduniya.com, a website to enable job seekers in rural India to access and apply for jobs through e-Choupals. In less than a month of the service, over 1,200 job openings from 52 companies were made available through this channel.

ITC is also working on the skills training business, which will be rolled out over the next few months. "Rural India has a huge untapped talent pool and Rozgarduniya.com will provide a platform to bridge the demand and supply gap. Job opportunities available to the rural population through this initiative will help improve employment in addition to facilitating corporate expansion plans in the rural market," says Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India, Middle East and Southeast Asia).

OPPORTUNITY: FASTER DIVERSIFICATION BY FARMERS INTO HORTICULTURE

RESPONSE: INCREASED PUSH TO RETAIL OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Sourcing farm produce is e-Choupal's key and original anchor business. But instead of purely trading in commodities, the sourced produce was used as inputs for ITC's food business. So, for instance, wheat procured through farmers finds its way into Aashirwad atta. With farmers around e-Choupals diversifying their produce, ITC got the opportunity to plan forward integration in more ways than one. "We moved into Choupal Fresh through forward integration with the horticulture farmers," says Sivakumar. Choupal Fresh (it is still in a pilot phase with six outlets in Hyderabad) is more "fresh" than other chains since vegetables and fruits make up 80 per cent of products sold through its outlets, compared to 20 per cent in most other "fresh" chains. The forward integration is also evident in the export of processed foods and fruits (mango and other fruit pulps).

"Many of our products and businesses have backward integration with the e-Choupals. Bingo, for instance, is made from potato sourced entirely through the e-Choupals. Similarly, the export of processed foods and fruits is dependent on the e-Choupals now," says Sivakumar. Also, starting mid-2008 ITC has entered personal care products in a big way. The e-Choupal network is a platform to take these products to consumers in the countryside.

These branded products will also be introduced at the Choupal Haats (these are temporary rural gatherings meant for interaction and product and service experience as against a Choupal Saagar, which is a permanent and multiple rural services facility that includes an agri produce warehouse, retail hypermarket and a fuel station), which are going to be launched over the next couple of months. Among the things planned to be introduced through the Haats are branded personal care products like shampoos.

OPPORTUNITY: IMPROVED RURAL ROADS, COURTESY BHARAT NIRMAN PROJECT
RESPONSE: INCREASE THE COVERAGE AREA OF EACH E-CHOUPAL

The e-Choupals, right from Version 1, worked in a hub and spoke model. Each e-Choupal and its Sanchalak catered to several villages nearby. The average number of villages catered by an e-Choupal so far were six. With massive government investments in rural roads, connectivity between villages has improved. This allows ITC to potentially add more spokes to each of its hubs. Network reach can be easily expanded without making much fresh investments into it.

Many other Indian companies that had once entered rural markets, and had subsequently quit, are re-entering. Tata Chemicals, Mahindra & Mahindra are two such examples. How does ITC plan to respond to this competition? By making better use of its unique social capital-the Sanchalak and the Samyojak framework. In the Sanchalak, ITC has its own man in the 40,000 villages it operates in. These men can steer e-Choupal into areas and activities the competitors cannot. For instance, the Sanchalaks will be the key men in organising Choupal Haats.

OPPORTUNITY: MANDIS HAVE IMPROVED SINCE E-CHOUPAL INITIATIVE STARTED
RESPONSE: LEVERAGE THE UNIQUE DIRECT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FARMERS

When the e-Choupal initiative was started, the operations at mandis were non-transparent. From weighing of farmers' produce to its gradation- that impacted it pricing-most operations were arbitrary and based on archaic methods. Over the past couple of years, the mandis have modernised and become more transparent. Where does this leave e-Choupal, which reached out to the farmers on the plank of transparency and fair valuations for their crops?

A unique advantage ITC still has over mandis is its direct and continual relationship with the farmers in its network. With rising awareness and concerns about food safety, this direct relationship is extremely valuable for partners who either source products directly from the e-Choupals or use ITC's farm products generated through the e-Choupals. For instance, an importer of processed foods in Europe can trace ITC food products all the way to the farm it came from to satisfy itself of the food safety standards.

By making these and a few other mid-course corrections, ITC is hoping to morph e-Choupal into an allweather venture-relatively de-risked from regulatory flip-flops and even market swings. But the success of this restructuring will critically depend on how much further it can deepen its existing relationship with four million farmers so that it can extract more value out of this network than it has been able to do till now-value for itself, for the farmer and all the current and future network partners.

Sivakumar has interesting calculations to share. By personalising its relationship under e-Choupal's Version 3, ITC can increase its reach from the existing 4 million farmers to 16 million-without even adding any village to its network. How? Once personalised, each farmer's family (assuming a wife and two kids) will come into the e-Choupal network as either a consumer or a contributor of some sort.

That will give an additional reach of 12 million! Of course, all these will not happen in one go and overnight. Some of the modifications mentioned-like setting up of rural employment exchanges- has already been implemented. Some are going to be added soon. The first Choupal Haat will be organised in November. The two-way mobile application and its full operationalisation will take some more time. But given the blueprint and flexibility demonstrated so far, ITC should be able to achieve much of what it plans to. And in doing so, the company will continue to be a leading and unique example of Corporate India's engagement with rural India.

1,2,3 OF E-CHOUPAL

VERSION 1.0

THE START

IDEA: TO GIVE POWER OF SCALE TO SMALL FARMERS BY AGGREGATING THEM AS SELLERS (OF PRODUCE) AND AS BUYERS (OF FARM INPUTS)

FARMERS' GAIN: THEY GET BARGAIN AND CHOICE - THE TWO KEY VIRTUES OF COMPETITION

ITC'S GAIN: ACCESS TO INPUTS FOR ITS AGRI BUSINESS; OFFER THE USE OF NETWORK TO OTHER COMPANIES

VERSION 2.0

THE SCALE-UP

REACH: BY 2006, 40,000 VILLAGES COVERING 4 MILLION FARMERS

OFFERING: NETWORK NOW OFFERED FIVE SERVICES:

 INFORMATION: WEATHER, PRICE, ETC.

 KNOWLEDGE: FARMING METHODS, SOIL TESTING, ETC.

 PURCHASE: SEED, FERTILISER...TO INSURANCE

 SALES: FARMERS SELL CROPS TO ITC CENTRES

 OTHER: CATTLE CARE, WATER HARVESTING, WOMEN EMPLOYMENT ETC

VERSION 3.0

THE DEEPENING

NEW BUSINESSES: ADD TWO NEW ANCHOR BUSINESSES: 1) RURAL JOBS AND EMPLOYABILITY AND 2) PERSONALISED AGRI SERVICES. PLUS STRENGTHEN EXISTING COMMODITY SOURCING

MORE INTERACTION: THROUGH CHOUPAL SAAGARS AND HAATS AND VIA MOBILE PHONES

NEW TECHNOLOGY: USE OF ESPECIALLY ENABLED MOBILE PHONES, IN ADDITION TO PCS, FOR TWO-WAY INTERACTION WITH

FARMERS; USE OF ANALYTICS; NEW PARTNERS

Reference:- www.echoupal.com

Name:-  Panchu Gopal Seet, B.sc, MBA

E-mail:-  panchugopal.seet@gmail.com

Cell:-     +919439055442

150th Birthday Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda

50 thoughts from Swami Vivekananda on his150^th Birthday Anniversary 

1. Man comes from God in the beginning, in the middle he becomes man, and in the end he goes back to God.

2. He is an Acharya through whom the Divine Power acts.

3. According to Karma Yoga, the action one has done cannot be destroyed, until it has borne its fruit; no power in nature can stop it from yielding its results.

4. Know it for certain that there is no greater Tirtha (holy spot) than the body of man. Nowhere else is the Atman so manifesting as here.

5. This world is just a gymnasium in which we play; our life is an eternal holiday.

6. Strength is the one thing needful. Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease. And nothing gives such strength as the idea of Monism.

7. Despondency is not religion, whatever else it may be. By being pleasant always and smiling, it takes you nearer to God, nearer than any prayer.

8. Any new discovery of truth does not contradict the past truth but fits into it.

9. Our King Janaka tilled the soil with his own hands, and he was also the greatest of the knowers of Truth, of his time.

10. Not believing in the glory of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism.

11. You are the makers of your own fortunes. You make yourselves suffer, you make good and evil, and it is you who put your hands before your eyes and say it is dark. Take your hands away and see the light.

12. The senses cheat you day and night. Vedanta found that out ages ago, modern science is just discovering the same fact.

13. It will not do merely to listen to great principles. You must apply them in the practical field, turn them into constant practice.

14. Of Gyan and Bhakti, he who advocates one and denounces the other cannot be either a Jnanin or a Bhakta, but he is a thief and a cheat.

15. While real perfection is only one, relative perfections must be many.

16. The wind of grace of the Lord is blowing on, for ever and ever. Do you spread your sail.

17. Practice is absolutely necessary. You may sit down and listen to me by the hour every day, but if you do not practice, you will not get one step further.

18. So long as the ‘skin sky’ surrounds man, that is, so long as he identifies himself with his body, he cannot see God.

19. Men worship Incarnations such as Christ or Buddha. They are the most perfect manifestations of the eternal Self. They are much higher than all the conceptions of God that you or I can make.

20. The happiest moments we ever know are when we entirely forget ourselves.

21. Books cannot teach God, but they can destroy ignorance; their action is negative.

22. The monk is the religious expert, having made religion his one métier of life. He is the soldier of God.

23. I do not believe in a God who cannot give me bread here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven!

24. The first thing to be got rid of by him who would be a Gyanani, is fear.

25. Brahman, this Reality, is unknown and unknowable, not in the sense of the agnostic, but because to know Him would be a blasphemy, because you are He already.

26. Where do you find the Indian Society standing still? It is always on the move. Sometimes, as in the times of foreign invasions, the movement has been slow, at other times quicker. This is what I say to my countrymen, I do not condemn them. I look into their past. I find that under the circumstances no nation could do more glorious work. I tell them that they have done well. I only ask them to do better.

27. Our ideal is the Brahmin of spiritual culture and renunciation. By the Brahmin ideal Brahminness in which worldliness is altogether absent and true wisdom is abundantly present. That is the ideal of the Hindu race.

28. Buddha was a working Gynani, Christ was a Bhakta, but the same goal was reached by them.

29. Maya is eternal both-ways, taken universally, as genus; but it is not-eternal individually.

30. Renunciation is the real beginning of religion. Nowadays it is very hard even to talk of renunciation. It was said of me in America that I was a man who came out of a land that had been dead and buried for five thousand years, and talked of renunciation. So says perhaps the English philosopher. Yet it is true that is the only path to religion. Renounce and give up.

31. It is impossible to find God outside of ourselves. We are the greatest temple.

32.Worship of God, worship of the holy ones, concentration and meditation, and unselfish work, these are the ways of breaking away from Maya’s net; but we must first have the strong desire to get free.

33. Wisdom can be practiced even on a battlefield. The Gita was preached so.

34. To think there is any imperfection creates it. Thoughts of strength and perfection alone can cure it.

35. Where is fate, and who is fate? We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise. We make our own destiny.

36. Those that want to help mankind must take their own pleasure and pain, name and fame, and all sorts of interests, and make a bundle of them and throw them into the sea, and then come to the Lord. That is what all the masters said and did.

37. The finer the organism, the higher the culture – greater is the power to enjoy pleasure, and the sharper are the pangs of pain.

38. With us, the prominent idea is Mukti; with the Westerners it is Dharma. What we desire is – Mukti; what they want is – Dharma. Dharma is that which makes man seek for happiness in this world or the next.

39. They had hundreds of Rishis in ancient India. We will have millions – we are going to have, and the sooner every one of you believes in this, the better for India and the better for the world. Whatever you believe, that you will be.

40. The greatest men in the world have passed away unknown. Silently they live and silently they pass away; and in time their thoughts find expression in Buddhas or Christs, and it is these latter that become known to us.

41. Better be ready to live in rags with Christ than to live in palaces without him.

42. Vedanta says, ‘We are free and not free at the same time.’ That means that we are never free on the earthly plane, but ever free on the spiritual side.

43. In our country, the imparting of knowledge has always been through men of renunciation. India had all good prospects so long as tyagis (men of renunciation) used to impart knowledge.

44. Creation is infinite, without beginning and without end, the ever moving ripple in an infinite lake.

45. Monism and Dualism are essentially the same. The difference consists in the expression. Dualism is in nature, in manifestation and Monism is pure spirituality in the essence.

46. The reconciliation of the different paths of Dharma and work without desire or attachment – these are the two special characteristics of the Gita.

47. The personal God is the highest reading that can be attained to, of the impersonal, by the human intellect.

48. The teachings of Krishna as taught by the Gita are the grandest the world has ever known. He who wrote that wonderful poem was one of those rare souls whose lives send a wave of regeneration through the world.

49. The living secrets must be handed down from Guru to disciple, in every science, much more so in religion.

50. Jesus Christ was a Jew, and Shakya Muni was a Hindu. The Jews rejected Jesus Christ, nay crucified him, and the Hindus have accepted Shakya Muni as God and worship him.

Source: http://www.swami-vivekanand.com/thoughts/