e-Choupal

-”Bridging the Rural-Digital Divide”

Presented By:Group-02
Bhanu Teja
Dinesh Sharma
Ketan Sharma
Palak Shetty
Shinjini Bhattacharjee
Taniya Khurana
 Scope
1. What is e-choupal?

2. Quick Bytes

3. Mandi Operation Process

4. e-choupal Supply Chains

5. How does it function?

6. Why is this venture so popular?

7. e-choupal’s IT component

8. Sustainability

9. Challenges.
 What is e-Choupal?
•Choupal- “gathering” in hindi.

•LINKING e-COMMERCE TO AGRO-INDIA

•e-Choupal leverages the Internet to empower small and marginal

farmers – who constitute a majority of the 75% of the population
below the poverty line.
 Quick Bytes
• Origin Year: 2000
•Target Area:

e-CHOUPAL NOW
STATES COVERED 10
VILLAGES COVERED 40,000
NO. OF e-CHOUPALS 6,500
FARMERS EMPOWERED 4 million

•Organization Involved: Wholly funded by ITC,has government

officials in the governance process and other agricultural
institutions have been roped in to provide expert information.
 Mandi Operation Process
Inbound Bargaining
Display and Outbound
Auction and Payment
Logistics Inspection Logistics
Weighing

Disadvantages:
•Long distances between mandis

• Monopolization of information by the trader communities

• Fragmented payments by traders to framers

 e-Choupal Supply Chains
Weighing
Inbound Inspection Hub
Pricing and
Logistics and Grading Logistics
Payment

Benefits:
•Able to differentiate between ‘Risks in Farming’ and ‘Financial risks in
Trading’
[ Possible by correcting the information asymmetry]

• Also allows the farmer an enlarged choice set – whether he wants to

sell to ITC or to the mandi
How does it function?
• Theidea – To saturate a particular sector with e-choupals
where one choupal would serve 10 villages within a 5 km
radius.

• The village e -choupal is housed in the Sanchalak/ Co-

ordinator’s house.

• The sanchalak is central to the business model.

• The web site www.echoupal.com is the gateway for the

farmer. The Web site is protected and requires a user ID and
password to login. As of now sanchalaks are the only
registered users.
 Topping it all off….
….with very useful information on:

•Weather- Localised information within a 25Km range.24-72 hour

forecasts with personalised advisory.

•Pricing- Updated ITC procurement and mandi rates.

•News- Agriculture news along with local,entertainment and sports news.

•Best Practices-Best farming practices are documented by crop. Here

again, the information presented is action-based. For instance, this
section not only highlights what kind of fertilizers to use but also how and
when to use them

•Q & A- Facilitates Interaction

Why is this venture so popular?
•Only initiative that attempts to combine services and
effective business model effectively

•Addresses the following rural problems:

1. Fragmented farms
2. Weak institutions
3. Involvement of intermediaries
4. Information asymmetry
e-choupal’s IT component
Though the IT component constitutes only 20% of e-choupals
business model, it is the most crucial part. There are two goals here:

1. Delivery of real time information independent of the

transaction
2. Facilitating communication between different parties involved
to bring about transparency in the whole system

Basic technological requirements:

•POWER
•TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE
•COMPUTER AND INTERNET
•VSAT TECHNOLOGY FOR FASTER NETWORKING
 A Snapshot..

http://www.itcabd.com/demo.html
Sustainability
 Challenges:

•Radical shifts in computing access could fundamentally alter

community based business models causing social and economic
repercussions.

•Possible danger that Sanchalaks may unionize like the traders and
attempt to extract illegitimate leverage over the villagers. If they
grow displeased with the commission arrangements.

•This venture has proved that ICT projects can generate business
opportunities with innovative ideas. Other companies may be
interested in competing.

• Power and poor infrastructure constraints.