e-Choupal is an initiative of ITC Limited, a unique web-based page, to link directly with rural farmers via the Internet for procurement of agricultural and aquaculture products like soybeans, wheat, coffee, and prawns. It also provides alternative marketing channels, information on weather, agricultural practices, input sales, etc. It is a kiosk located in a village and equipped with computer and internet access, which is managed by a trained sanchalak (farmer). The computer is housed in the sanchalak's house and is linked to the Internet via phone lines or by a VSAT connection. Each installation serves an average of 600 farmers in the surrounding ten villages within about a 5 km radius. The sanchalak bears some operating cost but in return earns a service fee for the e-transactions done through his e-Choupal. The warehouse hub is managed by the same traditional middlemen, now called samyojaks, but with no exploitative power due to the reorganization. These middlemen make up for the lack of infrastructure and fulfill critical jobs like cash disbursement, quantity aggregation, and transportation.