ITC plans big Chaupal Fresh

Aiming to become a player to reckon with in fresh produce retailing, ITC is planning to initially scale up Chaupal Fresh—stores selling
vegetables and fruits—from the current three outlets to 40 this financial year. At present, the stores are located at Hyderabad, Pune and
Chandigarh. The new 40 stores will all be in these three cities.

In the next three years, another 140 Chaupal Fresh outlets will be opened across the country, including in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

"These stores share a lot of synergy with our existing business of agri-retail and therefore it is difficult to provide an investment figure. It is not easy to distinguish between the two businesses," said S Sivakumar, chief executive - agri business, ITC.

All the new stores will be opened on leased properties.

In addition, ITC is planning to take its rural malls - Choupal Sagar - to small towns. Forty such outlets have been planned as of now. While
Choupal Sagars in rural areas are spread across seven to ten acres retailing approximately 25,000 SKUs, the format for smaller towns will be
shrunk to one acre selling 12,000-13,000 products in small towns. The catchment area for these outlets would include villages near small towns.

Interestingly, kirana stores and other small retailers from the small towns will also be able to purchase goods from these outlets. Choupal Sagar will
provide different prices to retailers and ordinary consumers.

These stores would cost Rs 2 crore each, and would be set up in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

In rural areas, Choupal Sagar will begin focusing on health services. "Having looked at poor health facilities in rural areas, we are scaling up
health services. We have already experimented in Madhya Pradesh, and will be soon expanding to Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra," said Sivakumar.