It wouldn't be wrong if one says that India lives in villages. More than 70% of Indian citizens are located in rural areas. For India's economy to be strong, the rural India needs to grow. Financial inclusion is a crucial driver for such growth by providing the financial products/services and information to large sections of society and ICT (information and communication technologies) has an imperative role to play. Usage of ICT in rural financial arena would help in attaining the goal of financial inclusion at an affordable timely and efficient manner. Various ICT based interventions/models have been initiated by RBI and a number of financial institutions in the industry. But there is lack of financial intervention that has been co-created in conjunction with local farmers/ people. Inspired by the success of one of such co- developed participatory model in rural procurement and marketing infrastructure that is popularly known as E-Choupal, we attempted to replicate the experience in the financial sector. The study conceptualized an E-Choupal Rural Financial Intervention Model with an aim to deliver financial products/services and information by leveraging ITC's E-Choupal network that must be tested for feasibility, efficiency, and sustainability. The proposed rural financial inclusion model would use the E-Choupal and Choupal Sagar networks to increase admittance to various financial products/services and information in the intervention areas. The proposed ICT - enabled innovative rural financial solution might facilitate intriguing the banking services to unbanked farmers/poor people in far - flung rural areas.

1. Akbar, S. (2014, August 26). 75 per cent of world's extremely poor people live in rural areas: Icrisat. The Times of India. Retrieved from <a href=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/75-per-cent-of-worlds-extremely-poor-people-live-in-rural-areas Icrisat/articleshow/40930556.cms target="_blank">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/75-per-cent-of-worlds-extremely-poor-people-live-in-rural-areas Icrisat/articleshow/40930556.cms</a>
2. Arora, M., & Singh, S. (2016). Disbursement of credit under the SGSY scheme: A comparison of SHGs’ swarozgaris and individual swarozgaris. Indian Journal of Finance, 10(11), 54 - 63. DOI: 10.17010/ijf/2016/v10i11/104918
3. ATISG. (2010). Principles and report on innovative financial inclusion from the access through innovation sub-group of the G20 financial inclusion experts group. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.afi-global.org/sites/default/files/atisg_g20synthesisreport_0.pdf target="_blank">http://www.afi-global.org/sites/default/files/atisg_g20synthesisreport_0.pdf</a>
4. Austin, G. (2003). Working a democratic constitution: A history of the Indian experience. USA : Oxford University Press.
5. Bhaskar, P. V. (2013). Financial inclusion in India : An assessment. New Delhi: MFIN and Access-Assist Summit. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.bis.org/review/r131211h.pdf target="_blank">http://www.bis.org/review/r131211h.pdf</a>
6. Bindage, A. B., Patel, R. R., Makani, R. M., Sante, P. R., & Raut, V. P. (2014). Economic evaluation of Kisan Credit Card scheme for sugarcane crop in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 27(3), 360 - 362.
7. Bowonder, B., Gupta, V., & Singh, A. (2003). Developing a rural market e-hub: The case study of E-Choupal experience of ITC. Planning Commission of India, 1-20. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.planningcommission.gov.in/reports/sereport/ser/stdy_ict/4_e-choupal%20.pdf target="_blank">http://www.planningcommission.gov.in/reports/sereport/ser/stdy_ict/4_e-choupal%20.pdf</a>
8. Central Statistics Office, Government of India. (February, 2014). Quarterly estimates of gross domestic product for the third quarter (October-December) of 2013-14. Retrieved from <a href=http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_new/upload/nad_pr_28feb14.pdf target="_blank">http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_new/upload/nad_pr_28feb14.pdf</a>
9. India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF). (2014, August). Agriculture sectoral presentation. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.ibef.org/download/Agriculture-August-2014.pdf target="_blank">http://www.ibef.org/download/Agriculture-August-2014.pdf</a>
10. Indian Banks' Association. (n.d.). Flow of credit to agriculture sector with special reference to tenant farmers, oral lessees and agricultural labourers. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.iba.org.in/events/flowofcreditcover.pdf target="_blank">http://www.iba.org.in/events/flowofcreditcover.pdf</a>
11. ITC. (n.d.). Transforming lives and landscapes. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.itcportal.com/businesses/agri-business/e-choupal.aspx target="_blank">http://www.itcportal.com/businesses/agri-business/e-choupal.aspx</a>
12. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. (December, 2014). Year end review for the Ministry of Agriculture for the Year 2014-15. Retrieved from <a href=http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=113870 target="_blank">http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=113870</a>
13. Ministry of Finance, Government of India (February, 2015). Economic Survey 2014-15 (Volume II). Retrieved from <a href=http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2014-15/echapter-vol2.pdf target="_blank">http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2014-15/echapter-vol2.pdf</a>
14. Minot, N., & Ngigi, M. (2004). Are horticultural exports a replicable success story?: Evidence from Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire (EPTD Discussion Paper 120). Washington, DC, USA : International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
15. NABARD. (2016). Status of microfinance in India 2015-16. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/File/Status%20of%20Microfinance%20in%20India%20-%202015-16.pdf target="_blank">http://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/File/Status%20of%20Microfinance%20in%20India%20-%202015-16.pdf</a>
16. NSSO. (2005). Access to modern technology for farming, situation assessment survey of farmers, 59th Round, Report No. 499. Retrieved from <a href=http://planningcommission.gov.in/sectors/agri_html/access%20to%20modern%20technology%20for%20farming%2059%20round%202003.pdf target="_blank">http://planningcommission.gov.in/sectors/agri_html/access%20to%20modern%20technology%20for%20farming%2059%20round%202003.pdf</a>
17. Planning Commission, Government of India. (July, 2013). Press note on poverty estimates, 2011-12. Retrieved from <a href=http://planningcommission.nic.in/news/pre_pov2307.pdf target="_blank">http://planningcommission.nic.in/news/pre_pov2307.pdf</a>
18. Rangarajan Committee, Government of India. (2008). Report of the committee on financial inclusion. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.sksindia.com/downloads/Report_Committee_Financial_Inclusion.pdf target="_blank">http://www.sksindia.com/downloads/Report_Committee_Financial_Inclusion.pdf</a>
19. Reserve Bank of India. (2007). General purpose credit cards and overdrafts against 'no-frills' account as indirect finance to agriculture under priority sector. Retrieved from <a href=https://rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=4168&Mode=0 target="_blank">https://rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=4168&Mode=0</a>
20. Sachs, J. D. (2012). From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals. The Lancet, 379 (9832), 2206 - 2211. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60685-0
21. Sathiyan, S., & Panda, P. K. (2016). Financial inclusion in India: An analysis of pattern and determinants. Indian Journal of Finance, 10(4), 41 - 53. DOI: 10.17010/ijf/2016/v10i4/90799
22. Siddik, M. N. A., Sun, G., & Kabiraj, S. (2015). Financial inclusion and its determinants: A study of Bangladesh. Indian Journal of Finance, 9 (6), 7 - 29. DOI: 10.17010//2015/v9i6/70988
23. Thorat, U. (2007, June). Financial inclusion - the Indian experience. In Text of speech by Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India at the HMT-DFID Financial Inclusion Conference. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.bis.org/review/r070626f.pdf target="_blank">http://www.bis.org/review/r070626f.pdf</a>
24. UN Department of Public Information. (2013). Millenium development goals and beyond 2015. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/Goal_1_fs.pdf target="_blank">http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/Goal_1_fs.pdf</a>
25. United Nations Development of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). (2006). Building inclusive financial sectors for development. United Nations Publications. Retrieved from <a href=http://www.uncdf.org/sites/default/files/Documents/bluebook_1.pdf target="_blank">http://www.uncdf.org/sites/default/files/Documents/bluebook_1.pdf</a>