…And ITC’s e-Choupal gets Stockholm Award

ITC e-Choupal has added another feather to its cap. The initiative, which is seen as perhaps the largest information technology (IT)-based corporate intervention in rural India, has now won the Stockholm Challenge Award 2006.

ITC e-Choupal has added another feather to its cap. The initiative, which is seen as perhaps the largest information technology (IT)-based corporate intervention in rural India, has now won the Stockholm Challenge Award 2006.

The Award was presented on Thursday at a glittering ceremony at the Stockholm City Hall, where Nobel Prizes are awarded.

The ten-year-old Stockholm Challenge Award recognises initiatives that leverage IT to improve living conditions and increase economic growth in all parts of the world. It focuses on social inclusion worldwide and champions ITC projects that show clear benefits to people. There were 1,155 entries from over 100 countries for this award this year. Of these, 26 were short-listed as finalists in the Economic Development category.

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This award crowns a series of global recognition for ITC e-Choupal, making it one of the most lauded information technology-based rural transformation model, a statement issued by the company notes. The initiative, started in 2000, has been awarded the ICC-UNDP-IBLF World Business Award in 2004 for furthering United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

In 2005, it walked away with the Development Gateway Award for contributing to the economic development of rural communities. It has also emerged as a noteworthy case study that has also caught the attention of the Harvard Business School. Back home, it has also won the Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2004 from TERI.

So far, ITC e-Choupal stakes to have empowered over 3.5 million farmers in 35,000 villages by enabling them to readily access crop-specific, customised information through vernacular websites. Even marginal farmers can access real-time information on prevailing Indian and international prices and price trends for their crop, expert knowledge on best farming practices and micro-level weather forecast.

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