Strategies For Rural Marketing By An Organization

Course Project Report

Rajarshi Rakshit (05305024) M.L.Narasimham (05305025) Ashish Gudhe (05305028) Kartik Vaddadi (05305044) Course Instructor Prof. K. Narayanan

April 2, 2006

Department of Humanities & Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Mumbai

Contents
1 Introduction 2 Strategies 2.1 BY COMMUNICATING AND CHANGING QUALITY PERCEPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 BY PROPER COMMUNICATION IN INDIAN LANGUAGE 2.3 BY TARGET CHANGING PERCEPTION . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 BY UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL AND SOCIAL VALUES 2.5 BY PROVIDING WHAT CUSTOMER WANT . . . . . . . . 2.6 BY PROMOTING PRODUCTS WITH INDIAN MODELS AND ACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7 BY ASSOCIATING THEMSELVES WITH INDIA . . . . . . 2.8 BY PROMOTING INDIAN SPORTS TEAM . . . . . . . . . 2.9 BY TALKING ABOUT A NORMAL INDIAN . . . . . . . . . 2.10 BY DEVELOPING RURAL-SPECIFIC PRODUCTS . . . . . 2.11 BY GIVING INDIAN WORDS FOR BRANDS . . . . . . . . 2.12 BY ACQUIRING INDIAN BRANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.13 BY EFFECTIVE MEDIA COMMUNICATION . . . . . . . . 2.14 BY ADOPTING LOCALISED WAY OF DISTRIBUTING . 2.15 BY ASSOCIATING THEMSELVES WITH INDIAN CELEBRITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.16 MELAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.17 PAINTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Case Studies-1: AKASHGANGA 4 Case-Study 2: ITC e-Choupal 4.1 About ITC-IBD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 ITC e-Choupal and the Strategy . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Operational costs and comparision with Mandis 4.4 Vision and Planning Behind the e-Choupals . . 4.5 Strategies to be followed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 12 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 17 17 19

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4.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Introduction

For quite some time now, the lure of rural India has been the subject of animated discussion in corporate suites. And there is a good reason too. With urban markets getting saturated for several categories of consumer goods and with rising rural incomes, marketing executives are fanning out and discovering the strengths of the large rural markets as they try to enlarge their markets. Today, the idea has grown out of its infancy and dominates discussions in any corporate boardroom strategy session. Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej group that is in a range of businesses from real estate and personal care to agri-foods, has no hesitation proclaiming, It is a myth that rural consumers are not brand and quality conscious. A survey by the National Council for Applied Economic Research(NCAER), Indias premier economic research entity, recently conrmed that rise in rural incomes is keeping pace with urban incomes. From 55 to 58 per cent of the average urban income in 1994-95, the average rural income has gone up to 63 to 64 per cent by 2001-02 and touched almost 66 per cent in 2004-05. The rural middle class is growing at 12 per cent against the 13 per cent growth of its urban counterpart. Even better, the upper income class those with household incomes of over Rs one million [$22,700] per annum is projected to go up to 21 million by 2009-10 from four million in 2001-02. It will have a 22 to 23 per cent rural component. Higher rural incomes have meant larger markets. Already, the rural tilt is beginning to show. A study by the Chennai-based Francis Kanoi Marketing Planning Services says that the rural market for FMCG is worth $14.4 billion, far ahead of the market for tractors and agri-inputs which is estimated at $10 billion. Rural India also accounts for sales of $1.7 billion for cars, scooters and bikes and over one billion dollars of durables. In total, that represents a market worth a whopping $27 billion. It is no wonder that even MNCs have cottoned on to the idea of a resurgent rural India waiting to happen. Four years ago, Coke ventured into the hinterland. Now Cokes rural growth of 37 per cent far outstrips its urban growth of 24 per cent. Coke is not the rst MNC to have cottoned on to the rural lure. Its global rival Pepsico took a wider approach to the business when it was 3

given permission to set up shop in India in the late 1980s and investment in food processing and farming was a pre-condition for entry. The company imported a state-of-the art tomato processing plant from Italy to Punjab. In ve years, productivity improved from 16 tonnes to 52 tonnes per hectare and there was a tomato glut in the state. Farmers werent complaining because even though prices fell, their incomes increased because of the huge jump in productivity. Pepsi is now heralding a citrus plantation drive in the state and other parts of the country for its brand of Tropicana fruit juices, to replace imported fruit. Hindustan Lever Ltd, the $2.3 billion Indian subsidiary of Unilever, the countrys largest FMCG company, has also got on the bandwagon. Its Project Shakti uses self-help groups across the country to push Lever products deeper into the hinterland. Its four-pronged programme creates income-generating capabilities for underprivileged rural women; improves rural quality of life by spreading awareness of best practices in health and hygiene; empowers the rural community by creating access to relevant information through community portals and it also works with NGOs to spread literacy. There are currently over 15,000 Shakti entrepreneurs, most of them women, in 61,400 villages across 12 states. By the end of 2010, Shakti aims to have 100,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering 500,000 of India s 640,000 villages, touching the lives of over 600 million people. With such an emphasis on rural marketing, consumption patterns are changing and it signals a change in the regulatory environment. Vertical integration of the food market from farm to rm to fork becomes the best way to achieve eciency and serve the interest of every stakeholder in the chain the farmer, the processor, the retailer and the consumer. As Ashok Gulati of the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute put its, The future of Indian agriculture in general and the farmer in particular depends on the how soon they can become globally competitive. Indian economic policy realises this. Between the 8th (1992-97) and the 10th (2002-07) Five Year Plans, successive governments have tripled the spending on rural development from $6.82 billion to $20.2 billion. All this potential has got Indias big business houses rushing to enter and expand rural businesses. Telecom giant Sunil Mittal, chairman of the $2 4

billion mobile telephony major Bharti Tele- Ventures, is another unabashed ag-bearer of the go rural strategy. He is condent that the next explosive phase of demand for cellular connections is going to come from the villages. In an interesting business diversication, he has tied up with the legendary Rothschilds of Europe for a $51 million food processing venture and export of fruits and vegetables. We can replicate our pre-eminence in IT agriculture and transform the country into a global food basket, he points out. Mittals initial investments include an agriculture research centre and model farm in Punjab. If the hinterland has caught the attention of Mittal, among the countrys most recent entrants to the ranks of big business, it has also not escaped the radar of the oldest business house, the $17 billion Tata group, which has consolidated its rural operations. The groups two companies, Tata Chemicals and Rallis India, ran separate rural initiatives till 2003. Tata Chemicals ran a chain called Tata Kisan Kendra, which oered farmers a host of products and services ranging from agriinputs to nancing to advisory services. Rallis, on the other hand, was partnering ICICI Bank and Hindustan Lever in oering deals to farmers that covered operations from the pre-harvest to post-harvest stage. In 2004, the two operations were merged and Tata Kisan Sansar, a network of onestop shops providing everything from inputs to know-how to loans, was launched. Today, the Tata Kisan Sansar has 421 franchisee-run centres in three states and reaches out to over 3.6 million farmers. Like the Tatas, the $2.6 billion Mahindra group has successfully established a synergy between its current businesses and the planned rural forays. Its agship, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd is Indias largest farm equipment company. Its subsidiary, Mahindra Shubhlabh Services, has operations in 11 states, and leverages the strong Mahindra brand, the 700,000-strong Mahindra tractor customer base and the 400-plus dealer network, to provide a complete range of products and services to improve farm productivity and establish market linkages to the commodity market chain. Its retailing arm, Mahindra Krishi Vihar, has been instrumental in increasing the groundnut yield in Rajasthan through a new seed sourced from the state of Maharashtra, and it has also introduced a new variety of grapes in Maharashtra. Says Vikram Puri, head of Mahindra Shubhlabh Services, Almost 80 per cent of 5

the farmers registered with us have less than ve acres land. We are making farming an attractive proposition through three basic guiding steps growing what the market requires, improving the crop yield and decreasing the cost of crop production. The activities of Mahindra Shubhlabh Services have attracted the attention of the International Finance Corporation, the nancial arm of the World Bank, which recently picked up a 27 per cent stake in the company. Rural India accounts for a market worth $27 billion. No wonder even MNCs have cottoned on to the idea of a resurgent rural India.

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2.1

Strategies
BY COMMUNICATING AND CHANGING QUALITY PERCEPTION

Companies are coming up with new technology and they are properly communicating it to the customer. There is a trade-o between Quality a customer perceives and a company wants to communicate. Thus, this positioning of technology is very crucial. The perception of the Indian about the desired product is changing. Now they know the dierence between the products and the utilities derived out of it. As a rural Indian customer always wanted value for money with the changed perception, one can notice dierence in current market scenario.

2.2

BY PROPER COMMUNICATION IN INDIAN LANGUAGE

The companies have realized the importance of proper communication in local language for promoting their products. They have started selling the concept of quality with proper communication. Their main focus is to change the Indian customer outlook about quality. With their promotion, rural customer started asking for value for money.

2.3

BY TARGET CHANGING PERCEPTION

If one go to villages they will see that villagers using Toothpaste, even when they can use Neem or Babool sticks or Gudakhu, villagers are using soaps like Nima rose, Breeze, Cinthol etc. even when they can use locally manufactured very low priced soaps. Villagers are constantly looking forward for new branded products. What can one infer from these incidents, is the paradigm changing and customer no longer price sensitive? Indian customer was never price sensitive, but they want value for money. They are ready to pay premium for the product if the product is oering some extra utility for the premium.

2.4

BY UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL AND SOCIAL VALUES

Companies have recognized that social and cultural values have a very strong hold on the people. Cultural values play major role in deciding what to buy. Moreover, rural people are emotional and sensitive. Thus, to promote their brands, they are exploiting social and cultural values.

2.5

BY PROVIDING WHAT CUSTOMER WANT

The customers want value for money. They do not see any value in frills associated with the products. They aim for the basic functionality. However, if the seller provide frills free of cost they are happy with that. They are happy with such a high technology that can fulll their need. As Motorola has launched, seven models of Cellular Phones of high technology but none took o. On the other hand, Nokia has launched a simple product, which has captured the market.

2.6

BY PROMOTING PRODUCTS WITH INDIAN MODELS AND ACTORS

Companies are picking up Indian models, actors for advertisements as this helps them to show themselves as an Indian company. Diana Hyden and Shahrukh Khan are chosen as a brand ambassador for MNC quartz clock maker OMEGA even though when they have models like Cindy Crawford.

2.7

BY ASSOCIATING THEMSELVES WITH INDIA

MNCs are associating themselves with India by talking about India, by explicitly saying that they are Indian. M-TV during Independence Day and Republic daytime make their logo with Indian tri-color. Nokia has designed a new cellular phone 5110, with the India tri-colour and a ringing tone of Sare Jahan se achcha.

2.8

BY PROMOTING INDIAN SPORTS TEAM

Companies are promoting Indian sports teams so that they can associate themselves with India. With this, they inuence Indian mindset. LG has launched a campaign LG ki Dua, all the best. ITC is promoting Indian cricket team for years, during world cup they have launched a campaign Jeeta hai jitega apna HindustanIndia India India. Similarly, Whirlpool has also launched a campaign during world cup.

2.9

BY TALKING ABOUT A NORMAL INDIAN

Companies are now talking about normal India. It is a normal tendency of an Indian to try to associate himself/herself with the product. If he/she can visualize himself/herself with the product, he /she becomes loyal to it. That is why companies like Daewoo based their advertisements on a normal Indian family.

2.10

BY DEVELOPING RURAL-SPECIFIC PRODUCTS

Many companies are developing rural-specic products. Keeping into consideration the requirements, a rm develops these products. Electrolux is working on a made-for India fridge designed to serve basic purposes: chill drinking water, keep cooked food fresh, and to withstand long power cuts.

2.11

BY GIVING INDIAN WORDS FOR BRANDS

Companies use Indian words for brands. Like LG has used India brand name Sampoorna for its newly launched TV. The word is a part of the Bengali, Hindi, Marathi and Tamil tongue. In the past one year, LG has sold one lakh 20-inch Sampoorna TVs, all in towns with a population of around 10,000. By the end of 1999, roughly 12Thats Rs 114 crore worth of TV sets sold in the villages in a year.

2.12

BY ACQUIRING INDIAN BRANDS

As Indian brands are operating in India for a long time and they enjoy a good reputation in India. MNCs have found that it is much easier for them to operate in India if they acquire an Established Indian Brand. Electrolux has acquired two Indian brands Kelvinator and Allwyn this has gave them the well-established distribution channel. As well as trust of people, as people believe these brands. Similarly Coke has acquired Thumps up, Gold Spot, Citra and Limca so that they can kill these brands, but later on they realized that to survive in the market and to compete with their competitor they have to rejuvenate these brands.

2.13

BY EFFECTIVE MEDIA COMMUNICATION

Media Rural marketing is being used by companies. They can either go for the traditional media or the modern media. The traditional media include

melas, puppetry, folk theatre etc. while the modern media includes TV, radio, e-chaupal. LIC uses puppets to educate rural masses about its insurance policies. Govt of India uses puppetry in its campaigns to press ahead social issues. Brook Bond Lipton India ltd used magicians eectively for launch of Kadak Chap Tea in Etawah district. In between such a show, the lights are switched o and a torch is ashed in the dark(EVEREADYs tact). ITCs e-chaupal (chaupal is the common place where villagers gather) has been the most elaborate and extensive venture in this eld so far. Conceived by ITCs international business division and launched in 2000, the e-chaupal project has since grown to around 2,700 chaupals covering a population of around 1.2 million in ve states Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Rural marketing requires the understanding of the complexities and this article reviews some of the key issues. Indian agricultural industry has been growing at a tremendous pace in the last few decades. The rural areas are consuming a large number of industrial and urban manufactured products. The rural agricultural production and consumption process plays a predominant role in developing the Indian economy. This has designed a new way for understanding a new process called Rural Marketing. The concept of rural marketing has to be distinguished from Agricultural marketing. Marketing is the process of identifying and satisfying customers needs and providing them with adequate after sales service. Rural marketing is dierent from agricultural marketing, which signies marketing of rural products to the urban consumer or institutional markets. Rural marketing basically deals with delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers, the demand for which is basically a derived outcome. Rural marketing scientists also term it as developmental marketing, as the process of rural marketing involves an urban to rural activity, which in turn is characterised by various peculiarities in terms of nature of market, products and processes. Rural marketing diers from agricultural or consumer products marketing in terms of the nature of transactions, which includes participants, products, modalities, norms and outcomes. The participants in case of Rural Marketing would also be dierent they include input manufacturers, dealers, farmers, 10

opinion makers, government agencies and traders. The existing approach to the rural markets has viewed the markets as a homogeneous one, but in practice, there are signicant buyer and user dierences across regions as well as within that requires a dierential treatment of the marketing problems. These dierences could be in terms of the type of farmers, type of crops and other agro-climatic conditions. One has to understand the market norms in agricultural input so as to devise good marketing strategies and to avoid unethical practices, which distort the marketing environment. Many of the inputs used for production process have implications for food, health and environmental sectors. Rural marketing needs to combine concerns for prot with a concern for the society, besides being titled towards prot. Rural market for agricultural inputs is a case of market pull and not market push. Most of the jobs of marketing and selling is left to the local dealers and retailers. The market for input gets interlocked with other markets like output, consumer goods, money and labour. The importance of rural marketing can be understood from the fact that today modern inputs i.e. diesel, electricity, fertilisers, pesticides, seeds account for as much as 70Green Revolution areas. Further the percentages were higher at 81of land. Strategic aspects Rural marketing in India is not much developed there are many hindrances in the area of market, product design and positioning, pricing, distribution and promotion. Companies need to understand rural marketing in a broader manner not only to survive and grow in their business, but also a means to the development of the rural economy. One has to have a strategic view of the rural markets so as to know and understand the markets well. In the context of rural marketing one has to understand the manipulation of marketing mix has to be properly understood in terms of product usage. Product usage is central to price, distribution, promotion, branding, company image and more important farmer economics, thus any strategy in rural marketing should be given due attention and importance by understanding the product usage, all elements of marketing mix can be better organised and managed.

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2.14

BY ADOPTING LOCALISED WAY OF DISTRIBUTING

Proper distribution channels are recognized by companies. The distribution channel could be a Big scale Super markets, they thought that a similar system can be grown in India. However, they were wrong, soon they realized that to succeed in India they have to reach the nook and the corner of the country. They have to reach the local Paan wala, Local Baniya only they can succeed. MNC shoe giants, Adidas, Reebok, Nike started with exclusive stores but soon they realized that they do not enjoy much Brand Equity in India, and to capture the market share in India they have to go the local market shoe sellers. They have to reach to local cities with low priced products.

2.15

BY ASSOCIATING THEMSELVES WITH INDIAN CELEBRITIES

MNCs have realized that in India celebrities enjoyed a great popularity so they now associate themselves with Indian celebrities. Recently Luxor Writing Instruments Ltd. a JV of Gillette and Luxor has launched 500 Gajgamini range of Parker Sonnet Hussain special edition fountain pens, priced at Rs. 5000. This pen is signed by Mr. Makbul Fida Hussain a renowned painter who has created Gajgamini range of paintings. Companies are promoting players like Bhaichung Bhutia, who is promoted by Reebok, so that they can associate their name with players like him and get popularity.

2.16

MELAS

Melas are places where villagers gather once in a while for shopping. Companies take advantage of such events to market their products. Dabur uses these events to sell products like JANAM GHUTI(Gripe water). NCAER estimates that around half of items sold in these melas are FMCG products

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and consumer durables. Escorts also displays its products like tractors and motorcycles in such melas.

2.17

PAINTINGS

A picture is worth thousand words. The message is simple and clean. Rural people like the sight of bright colours. COKE, PEPSI and TATA traders advertise their products through paintings.

Case Studies-1: AKASHGANGA

This case study is about a product and service named Akashganga sold by a small, entrepreneurial business named Shree Kamadhenu Electronics Private Ltd. (SKEPL). Akashganga is for diary farmers and it is intended to enable to them to increase their eciency and productivity. The Indian diary industry is plagued by several problems, the major ones being low productivity of Indian cows, the delays in processing milk, low quality caused by manual handling, corruption and mismanagement, and, of course, endemic dilution of milk with water. Akashganga attempts to alleviate some of these issues. Akashganga is a computerized system. When a farmer gets milk into the collection point, its weighed and the amount of fat measured and immediately an entry is made on the farmers swipe card. The money can be collected immediately. This is marked contrast to the previous system where the nancial calculation was done later to avoid holding up the queue of farmers ready for milking; the calculation was done by hand and was somewhat complicated. With the new system, calculation is done automatically which makes it possible to pay the farmer on the spot rather than having him wait for a couple of days. Also the potential for cheating is reduced. An entry is made electronically on the farmers swipe card. When SKEPL wanted to market this service, it ran up against the skepticism of the Indian rural people against unproven technology. This is the classic catch-22 situation as the farmer does not trust the tool till he tries it, and is reluctant to try it till he trusts it. SKEPL got around this problem by oer13

ing free trials and delayed payment schemes stretching up to several months. The company also provided responsive and ecient after-sales service. It established a service network covering the rural areas, and typically would attend to a compliant within a few hours of receiving it. Its important to note that the companys local presence whether for marketing, sales or service helped tremendously, since the villagers would not be disposed to make a journey to a town or city to learn about their products. The company also used a name Akashganga that Indian villagers can relate to. This helped earn the trust of the villagers. Also, Shree Kamadhenu Electronics used local people for marketing, sales, service, etc. This was a very important factor that helped the farmers relate to and trust the company. Of course, the company had a solution that was superior in terms of time, transparency, fairness, etc, and that played a big role in their success. As a result of these factors, SKEPL gained a threshold in this large market and earned respect among farmers.

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4.1

Case-Study 2: ITC e-Choupal

About ITC-IBD

ITC is one of Indias foremost private sector companies with a market capitalisation of over US $14 billion and a turnover of US $3 billion. ITC has a diversied presence in Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Branded Apparel, Greeting Cards and other FMCG products. Its International Business Division (ITC IBD) was created in 1990 as an agricultural trading company; it now generates US $150 million in revenues annually. Initially, the agricultural commodity trading business was small compared to international players. By 1996, the opening up of the Indian market had brought in international competition. Large international companies had better margin-to-risk ratios because of wider options for risk management 14

and arbitrage. For an Indian company to replicate the operating model of such multinational corporations would have required a massive horizontal and vertical expansion. In 1998, after competition forced ITC to explore the options of sale, merger, and closure of IBD, ITC ultimately decided to retain the business. The ITC-IBD taken the challenges to use information technology to change the rules of the game and create a competitive business that did not need a large asset base. Today, IBD is a US $150 million company that trades in commodities such as feed ingredients, food-grains, coee, black pepper, edible nuts, marine products, and processed fruits.

4.2

ITC e-Choupal and the Strategy

ITC followed a dierent media/communication strategy which is more elaborate and extensive in rural marketing so far, which benets both the farmers and the organization. The strategy is use the Information Technology and bridge the information and service gap in rural INDIA which gives an edge to market its products like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and other products like consumer goods. With this strategy it can also enhance its competetiveness in global market for agri exports. A pure trading model does not require much capital investment. The eChoupal model, in contrast, has required that ITC make signicant investments to create and maintain its own IT network in rural India and to identify and train a local farmer to manage each e-Choupal. The company has initiated an e-Choupal eort that places computers with Internet access in rural farming villages; the e-Choupals serve as both a social gathering place for exchange of information (choupal means gathering place in Hindi) and an e-commerce hub. The computer, typically housed in the farmers house, is linked to the Internet via phone lines or, increasingly, by a VSAT connection, and serves an average of 600 farmers in 10 surrounding villages within about a ve kilometer radius. Each e-Choupal costs between US $3,000 and US $6,000 to set up and about US $100 per year to main15

tain. Using the system costs farmers nothing, but the host farmer, called a sanchalak, incurs some operating costs and is obligated by a public oath to serve the entire community; the sanchalak benets from increased prestige and a commission paid him for all e-Choupal transactions. The farmers can use the computer to access daily closing prices on local mandis(governmentmandated markets), as well as to track global price trends or nd information about new farming techniqueseither directly or, because many farmers are illiterate, via the sanchalak (the village farmer who runs the e-Choupal and acts as ITCs representative in the village). In addition they can also know about weather forecast(local) and best practices in the world from e-Choupal website. They also use the e-Choupal to order seed, fertilizer, and other products such as consumer good from ITC or its partners, at prices lower than those available from village traders; the sanchalak typically aggregates the village demand for these products and transmits the order to an ITC representative. At harvest time, ITC oers to buy the crop directly from any farmer at the previous days closing price; the farmer then transports his crop to an ITC processing center, where the crop is weighed electronically and assessed for quality. The farmer is then paid for the crop and a transport fee. Launched in June 2000, e-Choupal, has already become the largest initiative among all Internet-based interventions in rural India. e-Choupal services today reach out to more than 3.5 million farmers growing a range of crops - soyabean, coee, wheat, rice, pulses, shrimp - in over 31,000 villages through 5200 kiosks across six states (Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan).

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Figure 1: Transactional costs under Mandi & e-Choupal system

4.3

Operational costs and comparision with Mandis

Fixed Cost of Equipment at e-Choupal (in Rs.) Printer Power related 19000 15000 15000 14000 12000 VSAT 90000 70000 70000 60000 50000 PC Total

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

7000 7000 7000 6000 6000

39000 155,000 30000 122,000 30000 122,000 27000 107,000 24000 92,000

4.4

Vision and Planning Behind the e-Choupals

Implementing and managing e-Choupals is a signicant departure from commodities trading. Through its tobacco business, ITC has worked in Indian 17

agriculture for decades, from research to procurement to distribution. ITCs translation of the tactical and strategic challenges it faced and its social commitment into a business model demonstrates a deep understanding of both agrarian systems and modern management. The principles followed in implementing the e-Choupals are Re-engineer, Not Reconstruct Present Mandi system have some success factors in it. ITC decided to build e-Choupal on existing system. Already ITC has trading agents in local mandis for its tobacco business. It retained the ecient providers and created roles for inecient people. It recruites and engages members of landscape thereby making their expertise available to ITC. With this principle ITC can avoid the reinventing the system in areas where it can add no value with its presence i.e., in areas where ecient agents are there. Address the Whole, Not Just One Part The farmers various activities range from procuring inputs to selling produce. Currently, the village trader services the spectrum of farmers needs. He is a centralized provider of cash, seed, fertilizer, pesticides, and also the only marketing channel. As a result, the trader enjoys two competitive benets. First, his intimate knowledge of the farmer and village dynamics allow him to accurately assess and manage risk. Second, he reduces overall transaction costs by aggregating services. The linked transactions reduce the farmers overall cost in the short term, but create a cycle of exploitative dependency in the long-term. Rural development eorts thus far have focused only on individual pieces rather than what the entire community needs. Cooperatives have tried to provide agricultural inputs, rural banks have tried to provide credit, and mandis have tried to create a better marketing channel. These eorts cannot compete against the traders bundled oer. Functioning as a viable procurement alternative, therefore, must eventually address a range of needs, not just the marketing channel. 18

ITC e-Chopal provide services as a bundle what the entire agricultural community needs. An IT-Driven Solution Delivery of real-time information independent of the transaction. In the mandi system, delivery, pricing, and sales happen simultaneously, thus binding the farmer to an agent. E-Choupal was seen as a medium of delivering critical market information independent of the mandi, thus allowing the farmer an empowered choice of where and when to sell his crop. Risk analysis & challenges Radical shifts in computing access will break community-based business models. The sanchalaks are ITCs partners in the community, and as their power and numbers increase, there is a threat of unionization and rent extraction. The scope of the operation: the diversity of activities required of every operative and the speed of expansion create real threats to ecient management. If ITC fails to fulll the aspirations of farmers, they will look elsewhere for satisfaction.

4.5

Strategies to be followed

(1). Adopt the ability to determine the grades of the crop(grains) in the eld which commands the price premium for the crop. e.g: Wheat (2). Build the concept of traceability into the supply chain which will allow to address the food safety concerns. e.g: For perishables such as shrimps, which decays quickly with in short 19

period of time, it need to dene standards of production and product quality. (3). Provide the service as market-place for commodities where ITC is not a sole buyer. It will reduce the operational cost of e-Choupal such as IT infrastructure and transaction costs. e.g: coee grains. (4). Marketing value added products and services to rural INDIA , in addition to marketing agri inputs, through e-Choupal system. (5). Sourcing IT-enabled services from rural INDIA. Telemedicine, ecotourism , traditional medicine and traditional crafts are some of the services that can be sourced from rural INDIA.

4.6

Conclusion

ITC e-Choupal, an innovative strategy which is elaborative and extensive in rural markets sofar. Critical factors in the apparent success of the venture are ITCs extensive knowledge of agriculture, the eort ITC has made to retain many aspects of the existing production system, including retaining the integral importance of local partners, the companys commitment to transparency, and the respect and fairness with which both farmers and local partners are treated.

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