ITC Ltd

ITC Ltd is one of India's premier private sector companies with diversified presence in businesses such as Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Information Technology, Branded Apparel, Greeting Cards, Safety Matches and other FMCG products. Presently, ITC has a market capitalisation of nearly US $ 15 billion and a turnover of over US $ 4.75 billion. It employs over 21,000 people at more than 60 locations across India. ITC has been rated among the World's Best Big Companies, Asia's 'Fab 50' and the World's Most Reputable Companies by Forbes magazine, among India's Most Respected Companies by Business World and among India's Most Valuable Companies by Business Today.

ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name of 'Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited'. ITC had a humble beginning and in the initial days it used to operate from a leased office on Radha Bazar Lane, Kolkata. On its 16th birthday on August 24, 1926, ITC purchased the plot of land situated at 37, Chowringhee, (now renamed J.L. Nehru Road) Kolkata. Two years later company's headquarter building, 'Virginia House' came on that plot. Progressively the ownership of the company Indianised, and the name of the Company was changed to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. In recognition of the Company's multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide range of businesses, the full stops in the Company's name were removed effective September 18, 2001 and the Company was rechristened as 'ITC Limited'.

ITC is involved in following businesses:

Cigarettes: ITC is the market leader in cigarettes in India and has a wide range of popular brands such as Insignia, India Kings, Classic, Gold Flake, Silk Cut, Navy Cut, Scissors, Capstan, Berkeley, Bristol and Flake in its portfolio.

Packaging: ITC's Packaging & Printing Business is the country's largest convertor of paperboard into packaging. It was set up in 1925 as a strategic backward integration for ITC's Cigarettes business. It offers a variety of value-added packaging solutions for the food & beverage, personal products, cigarette, liquor, cellular phone and IT packaging industries.

Hotels: ITC entered the hotels business in 1975 with the acquisition of a hotel in Chennai which was rechristened Hotel Chola. Today ITC-Welcomgroup with over 70 hotels is one of the foremost hotel chains in India.

Paperboards: In 1979, ITC entered the Paperboards business by promoting ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards. ITC's Paperboards business has a manufacturing capacity of over 360,000 tonnes per year and is a market leader in India across all carton-consuming segments.

Greeting, Gifting & Stationery: ITC's stationery brands "Paper Kraft" & "Classmate" are widely distributed brands across India. The Paperkraft designer stationery range consists of notepads & multi subject notebooks in hard, soft covers & multiple binding formats including spirals, wiros etc. ITC's Greeting & Gifting products include Expressions range of greeting cards and gifting products.

Safety Matches: ITC's brands of safety matches include iKno, Mangaldeep, VaxLit, Delite and Aim. The Aim is the largest selling brand of Safety Matches in India. ITC also exports premium brands to markets such as Europe, Africa and the USA.

Aggarbattis: ITC has launched Mangaldeep brand of Aggarbattis with a wide range of fragrances like Rose, Jasmine, Bouquet, Sandalwood, Madhur, Durbar, Tarangini, Anushri, Ananth and Mogra. Mangaldeep is also being exported to USA, UAE, Bahrain, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Oman and South Africa.

Lifestyle Retailing: ITC entered the Lifestyle Retailing business with the Wills Sport range of international quality relaxed wear for men and women in 2000. The Wills Lifestyle chain of exclusive stores later expanded its range to include Wills Classic formal wear (2002) and Wills Clublife evening wear (2003). In 2002, ITC entered into the popular segment with its men's wear brand, John Players. In 2005, ITC introduced Essenza Di Wills, an exclusive line of prestige fragrance products.

Food: ITC made its entry into the branded & packaged Foods business in August 2001 with the launch of the "Kitchens of India" brand. In 2002 it expanded into Confectionery, Staples and Snack Foods segments. ITC's brand in Food category include: Kitchens of India, Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Mint-O, Candyman, and Bingo!.

Agri Exports: ITC's International Business Division (IBD) is the country's second largest exporter of agri-products. ITC exports Feed Ingredients (Soyameal), Foodgrains (Rice, Wheat, Pulses), Coffee & Spices, Edible Nuts, Marine Products, and Processed Fruits.

e-choupal: The e-Choupal model of ITC has been very effective in tackling the challenges posed by the unique features of Indian agriculture, characterised by fragmented farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement of numerous intermediaries, among others. ITC's e-Choupal won the Stockholm Challenge 2006 award is for using information technology for the economic development of rural communities.

Note: The above information was last updated on 21-07-2007