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News >> Technology >>
ITC to invest $1B in e-Choupal
By agencies
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Wednesday, 04 January 2006, 20:30 IST
HYDERABAD: Indian Tobacco Company Ltd is planning to invest around $1 billion in strengthening its e-Choupal infrastructure in the next 7-10 years aimed at turning more rural communities into vibrant economic organizations, Chairman Y.C. Deveshwar said.
He said the ITC e-Choupal today reaches out to and empowers 3.5-million farmers in over 31,000 villages by enabling them to readily access crop-specific, customized and comprehensive information.
Deveshwar said ITC would launch several services like education, healthcare, credit, insurance and farm inputs through the e-Choupal network soon. Over the next decade, the ITC e-Choupal network aims to cover over 1000,000 villages, representing one-sixth of rural India, and create more than 10 million e-farmers.
The e-Choupal model demonstrates that the private sector can achieve synergy between creating shareholder value and rendering service to society, he added.