ITC is a large Indian conglomerate with many business segments including FMCG products, hotels, paper packaging, agriculture, and IT services. ITC employs rural marketing strategies like developing products tailored for rural areas, communicating in local languages, and promoting Indian sports. A key initiative is ITC e-Choupal, which installs computers in villages to provide farmers information on weather and prices, empowering millions of farmers. ITC faces challenges like infrastructure barriers and knowledge barriers but addresses these through technology, training, and partnerships.

1. RURAL MARKETING
•UTKARSH SAXENA

2. WHAT IS RURAL MARKETING?
Rural marketing is now a two-way marketing process. There is inflow of
products into rural markets for production or consumption and there is also
outflow of products to urban areas.

3. ITC
ITC is the country’s leading FMCG marketer, the clear market leader in the
Indian Paperboard and Packaging industry, a globally acknowledged pioneer
in farmer empowerment through its wide reaching Agriculture Business, the
second largest Hotel Chain in India and a trailblazer in Green Hoteliering.

4. ITC
BRAND ARCHITECTURE

5. BUSINESS SEGMENTS OF ITC
ITC have created over 50 popular brands across categories that serve millions
of households and support and sustain over 5 million livelihoods across India.
Within a relatively short span of time, ITC has established vital brands across
diverse business that include branded packaged foods, personal care, education
and stationery, incense sticks & safety matches, lifestyle apparel and hotels.
Each of ITC’s brands has today garnered significant market standing in the
global Indian marketplace.

6. MAJOR BRANDS OF ITC

7. FMCG
Key product segments in FMCG sector are
• Branded Packaged Foods
• Personal Care
• Cigarettes and Cigars
• Lifestyle Apparel
• Education and Stationary Products
• Agarbattis and Safety Matches

8. HOTELS
Launched in 1975, ITC Hotels, India’s premier chain of luxury hotels, has
become synonymous with Indian Hospitality. ITC Hotels pioneered the
concept of “Responsible Luxury” in the hospitality industry, drawing on the
strengths of the ITC groups sustainability practices. Responsible Luxury
personifies an ethos that integrates world-class green practices with
contemporary design elements to deliver the best luxury in the greenest
possible manner.

9. PAPERBOARDS AND SPECIALITY PAPERS
ITC’s Paperboards and Speciality Papers division is India’s largest,
technologically advanced and most eco-friendly, paper and paperboard
business. The business caters to a wide spectrum of packaging, graphic,
communication, writing, printing and speciality paper requirements through its
four world-class manufacturing units, 7 sales offices and a network of more
than 50 dealers in India, along with an international trade network of 18
distributors/agents and 4 finishing operations close to the market for providing
faster service to the customers.

10. PACKAGING
ITC’s Packaging and Printing Business is the largest value added converter of
paperboard packaging in South Asia. It converts over 70,000 tonnes of paper,
paperboard and laminates per annum into a variety of value added packaging
solutions for the food and beverage, personal products, cigarette, liquor and
consumer good industries.

11. AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS
ITC’s pre-eminent position as one of India’s leading corporate in the
agricultural sector is based on strong and enduring farmer partnerships that
has revolutionized and transformed the rural agricultural sector. A unique rural
digital infrastructure network, coupled with deep understanding of agricultural
practices and intensive research, has built a competitive and efficient supply
chain that creates and delivers immense value across the agricultural value
chain. One of the largest exporters of agricultural products from the country.

12. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
ITC Infotech is a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd. Formed in 2000, ITC
infotech has today carved a niche for itself in the arena of global IT services
and solutions. The company has established technology Centres of Technology
to deepen capabilities and incubate cutting-edge technical competencies.
With over 5600 employees, ITC Infotech conforms to the highest standards in
process quality, with ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and CMMI level 3 accreditations.

13. ITC
Rural Marketing Strategies

14. Key Rural Marketing Strategies employed by ITC are:
• BY communicating and changing quality perception.
• By proper communication in Indian language.
• By understanding social and cultural values.
• By promoting Indian sports teams.
• By developing rural specific products.
• By adopting localised way of distribution.
• By giving Indian words for brands.

15. ITC e-choupal
e-choupal is an initiative of ITC Ltd., a conglomerate in India, to link directly
with rural farmers via the Internet for procurement of agricultural and
aquaculture products like soyabean, wheat, coffee and prawns. e-choupal
tackles the challenges posed by Indian agriculture, characterised by
fragmented farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement of intermediaries.
The programme installs computers with internet access in rural areas of India
to offer farmers up-to-date marketing and agricultural information. Today the
initiative of ITC has empowered the lives of people living in 10 states where
40,000 villages have 6500 e-choupals and around 4 million farmers have been
empowered.

16. 4As in e-choupal
• Availability: It emphasise on the availability of the goods and services to
the end consumers.
• Affordability: It focuses on product pricing. ITC buys directly from the
farmers in the last days closing price and even pays them for transportation.
• Acceptability: It focuses s on convincing the customer to buy the product.
ITC’s e-coupal initiative is providing the farmers with real time updated
information on weather.
• Awareness: It focuses on making people aware of the product. It is
providing active servicing up to rural outlets.

17. 4Ps of ITC Rural Marketing Strategies
(Product, Price, Place and Promotion)
1.Product: - Highly diversified product range.
- Products are of relatively high quality.
2. Price: - Agricultural inputs are aggressively priced.
- Comparable products at lower price under different brand name.
3. Place: - Developed procurement hubs, rural mini malls in the vicinity of
villages.
- All products available under one roof.
- Selling, purchasing and storage at the same place.
4. Promotion: - Skilled central management group.
- Awareness among farmers, CSR activities job opportunities, farmer
self-efficacy.

18. Challenges Faced and Recommendations

19. Key Challenges Faced by ITC in Rural Marketing and
Possible Alternatives are:
1. Infrastructure Barrier: - Technology innovation.
- Cooperative with government bodies.
2. Knowledge Barrier: - Enhance Publicity and Training.
- Simplify interface of e-choupal.
3. Cost: - Extend lifecycle of equipment.
- Increase revenue by adding advertisements.

20. Key Recommendations for ITC e-choupals are:
• Increase the utilisation of e-choupal.
• Sign contract with farmers.
• More innovations are needed.
• Provide faster and more responsive customer service.
• Create incentive programs for farmers.

21. CONCLUSION
• Rural wealth creation in agriculture through securing empowerment,
collaboration and competition.
• A transformational initiative for sustainable development of society.
• Commitment to transparency and the respect and fairness with which both
farmers and local partners are created.