ITC to focus on Maharashtra for Choupal Fresh

The Economic Times reports that ITC will be taking advantage of Maharashtra's 'retail-friendly' policy to expand its Choupal Fresh stores across the state. The company said it was happy with the results of its three month experiment of Choupal Fresh in the Pune market and thus it will be opening stores in other cities. The company is specifically looking at Satara and Solapur districts to bring in more farmers. Reliance had also put forward a similar contract farming proposal with the state government but it has not made any progress with getting any sort of approval as yet.