Diversified group ITC expects nearly three-fold jump in turnover of its agri division to touch Rs 18,000 crore in the next five years, driven mostly by procurement and retail initiatives in rural markets.
The company expects the agri-business division to have a turnover of Rs 6,500 crore in the ongoing fiscal, up from Rs 5,672.07 crore in the last fiscal. A majority of the business is generated from its ‘e-Choupals’, a Web-enabled supply chain network in villages and rural hypermarts ‘Chaupal Sagars’.
ITC Agri Business Division COO Rajnikant Rai said in the last five years, the agri division has been witnessing an average growth of 15 to 20 per cent.
“In the financial year 2009-10, we were at Rs 2,500 crore and now we are more than double of that in five years. Going forward, we have to maintain this growth...Our target for financial year 2020-21 from this division is Rs 18,000 crore,” he told PTI.
Currently, the company has 6,500 e-Choupals and 25 Chaupal Sagars in 11 states. ITC sources a variety of farm produce like wheat, soyabeans, coffee, shrimp, pulses, millets, barley, and jowar along with fruits such as mango, litchi, jamun, guava and pineapple.
ITC expects internal consumption by group companies to increase to almost half of its agri segment’s business in the next five years.
“Out of Rs 18,000 crore, which we are expecting by financial year 2020-21, 50 per cent would be consumed internally and rest externally,” Rai said.
In the ongoing fiscal, internal consumption by the company’s various group firms is likely to account for around Rs 2,500 crore, Rai added.
At present, ITC operates 6,500 e-Choupals covering 40,000 villages in different states, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, touching 4 million farmers.
Besides, the company also has 24 Chaupal Sagars where it sells a host of items, from fertilisers and hair oil to mixer-grinders and tractors.
On expansion of e-Choupals, Rai said: “As of now, we have sufficient capacity and we would expand only when we would go to new states where we believe that this model would succeed.’’