ITC to invest ₹20,000 cr to boost manufacturing, to deepen ‘Bharat First’ focus: Chairman Sanjiv Puri

Addressing shareholders at the company’s Annual General Meeting, Puri said, “Enterprises of the future will need to navigate the TURN – a pivotal inflection point shaped by Turbulence, Uncertainty and Rapid change – that calls for Novel strategies.”

He highlighted the importance of redefining competitiveness through “compassionate capitalism” and pledged that ITC would continue to play a dual role in driving both economic growth and societal value.

Hotels demerger & acquisitions

The ITC chief described the demerger of the Hotels Business—effective January 1, 2025—as a “significant milestone” that will unlock value and enable sharper business focus. The Hotels segment, he noted, delivered record revenue and profits in the nine months leading up to the demerger.

Several acquisitions during the year have bolstered ITC’s presence in key growth sectors. These include ITC Infotech’s acquisition of Blazeclan Technologies to strengthen its cloud services, and new additions such as 24 Mantra Organic, Prasuma, and Mother Sparsh in the FMCG space.

Food-Tech and digital pivot

ITC’s fast-growing food-tech venture, leveraging the company’s strengths in foods, hotels and digital platforms, has seen rapid expansion.

Operating under brands like ‘ITC Master Chef Creations’ and ‘ITC Aashirvaad Soul Creations’, the segment has clocked a CAGR of 108% over the past three years and now operates 60 cloud kitchens across five cities.

A strong push is also being made in the digital space. “A robust Digital Superstructure” powered by AI and GenAI is enabling ITC to offer hyper-personalised products and real-time consumer insighting, Puri said.

FMCG focus: fortified, diversified, and premiumised

ITC’s FMCG business reached a consumer spend of over ₹34,000 crore, touching 260 million households in India and building a presence in more than 70 international markets.

Over 100 new products were launched last year alone, with a focus on premiumisation and health-driven offerings.

Notable additions included nutrition-dense products under ‘Right Shift’ for the 40+ demographic, ‘Pranah’ aromatherapy-based wellness products, and premium frozen foods via the acquisition of Prasuma. “

Our mission to ‘Help India Eat Better’ is anchored in scaling our ‘Good-for-You’ portfolio,” Puri said, while highlighting the strategic expansion into organic and ayurvedic segments.

Scaling paperboards with Century Pulp acquisition

In a strategic move to expand capacity and beat import pressures, ITC has signed an agreement to acquire the Century Pulp and Paper business.

The acquisition is expected to be earnings-accretive from the first year and will contribute to a 30–40% increase in EBITDA per ton after two years.

The company’s sustainability-linked packaging business, including products under the ‘Filo’, ‘Bioseal’, and ‘Fyba’ brands, has also gained momentum—growing at 2.4 times the FY22 levels.

Next-gen agriculture and climate

Puri reiterated ITC’s strong focus on agriculture and climate adaptation. ITCMAARS, the company’s phygital agriculture platform, now supports over 2,050 FPOs and 22 lakh farmers across 11 states. From promoting climate-smart agriculture to launching drone-enabled services, the platform is poised to become a “robust business of the future.”

The Chairman also announced that ITC has committed to achieving Net Zero operations by 2050, targeting an 85% reduction in emissions despite business growth. “Today, 52% of our energy comes from renewable sources, and we have maintained carbon, water and solid waste positivity for nearly two decades,” he said.