ITC Limited

ITC Limited or ITC is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.[3] Its
diversified business includes five segments: Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Hotels,
Paperboards & Packaging, Agri Business & Information Technology.[7]
Established in 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited, the company was
rechristened as the Indian Tobacco Company Limited in 1970 and further to I.T.C. Limited in 1974.
The periods in the name were removed in September 2001 for the company to be renamed as ITC
Ltd.[2] The company completed 100 years in 2010[8][9][10][11] and as of 2012-13, had an annual turnover
of US$ 8.31 billion[12] and a market capitalisation of US$ 45 billion.[6] It employs over 25,000
people[6] at more than 60 locations across India and is part of Forbes 2000 list.

Type

Public

Traded as

BSE: 500875
NSE: ITC
BSE SENSEX Constituent
CNX Nifty Constituent

Industry

Conglomerate

Predecessors

W.D. & H.O. Wills

Founded

August 24, 1910[1][2]

(as Imperial Tobacco Company of India)

Headquarters

Kolkata, West Bengal, India[3]

Key people

Y C Deveshwar, (Chairman)[4]

Products

Tobacco, hotels, paperboards & specialty

papers,packaging, agri-business, packaged
foods &confectionery, IT, branded
apparels, personal care, stationery, safety
matches and other FMCG products

Revenue

INR 45,102 Crores (US$ 8.31 billion)

(2012-13)[5]

Operating
income

Net income

INR 11,106 Crores (US$ 2.05 billion)

(2012-13)[5]

INR 7,608 Crores (US$ 1.40 billion)

(2012-13)[5]

Total assets

INR 35,353 Crores (US$ 6.51 billion) (Mar

2013)[5]

Total equity

INR 23,158 Crores (US$ 4.27 billion) (Mar

2013)[5]

Employees

25,959 (Mar 2013)[6]

Divisions

ITC Infotech, Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd.

Website

www.itcportal.com

History[edit]
ITC was formed on 24 August 1910 under the name of Imperial Tobacco Company of India
Limited,[2] and the company went public on 27 October 1954.[1] The earlier decades of the company's
activities centered mainly around tobacco products. In the 1970s, it diversified into non-tobacco
businesses.[1]
In 1975, the company acquired a hotel in Chennai, which was rechristened the 'ITC-Welcomgroup
Hotel Chola' (now renamed to MyFortune, Chennai).[2]

In 1985, ITC set up Surya Tobacco Co. in Nepal as an Indo-Nepali and British joint venture, with the
shares divided between ITC, British American Tobacco and various independent domestic
shareholders in Nepal. In 2002, Surya Tobacco became a subsidiary of ITC and its name was
changed to Surya Nepal Private Limited.[13]
In 2000, ITC launched the Expressions range of greeting cards,[14][15] the Wills Sport range of casual
wear,[16] and a wholly owned information technology subsidiary, ITC InfotechIndia Limited.[17]
In 2001, ITC introduced the Kitchens of India brand of ready-to-eat gourmet Indian recipes.[18]
In 2002, ITC entered the confectionery and staples segments[19] [20][21] and acquired
the Bhadrachalam Paperboards Division[22] and the safety matches company WIMCO Limited.[23]
ITC entered the Agarbattis (incense sticks) business in 2003, selling its products under
the Mangaldeep brand.
ITC diversified into body care products in 2005.[24] [25]
In 2010, ITC launched its handrolled cigar - Armenteros - in the Indian market.[26]
The company began online sales in 2014.[27]

Products and Brands[edit]

Gold Flake cigarettes

Cigarettes[edit]
ITC Ltd sells 80 percent of the cigarettes in the India, where 275 million people use tobacco products
and the total cigarette market is worth close to $6 billion (around Rs.35,000 crore) [28][29]
ITC's major cigarette brands include W.D. & H.O. Wills, Gold Flake Kings, Gold Flake Premium,Gold
Flake Super Star, Navy Cut, Insignia, India Kings, Classic (Verve, Menthol, Menthol Rush, Regular,
Citric Twist, Mild & Ultra Mild), 555, Silk Cut, Scissors, Capstan, Berkeley, Bristol, Lucky
Strike, Players, Flake and Duke & Royal.[30][31]

Other businesses[edit]

Foods: ITC's major food brands include Kitchens of India; Aashirvaad, Minto, Sunfeast, Candyman, Bingo! and Yippee!.[32] ITC is India's largest seller of branded foods with
sales of over Rs. 4,600 crore in 2012-13.[33] It is present across 4 categories in the Foods
business namely Staples, Snack Foods, Ready-To-Eat Foods and Confectionery.[32]

Lifestyle apparel: ITC sells its products under the Wills Lifestyle and John Players brands. Wills
Lifestyle was accorded the Superbrand status and John Players was included in the top 10
Most Trusted Apparel Brands 2012 by The Economic Times.[6]

Personal care products include perfumes, haircare and skincare categories. Major brands
are Fiama Di Wills, Vivel, Essenza Di Wills, Superia and Engage.[34][35]

Stationery: Brands include Classmate, PaperKraft and Colour Crew.[36] Launched in

2003, Classmate went on to become India's largest notebook brand in 2007.[37][38]

Safety Matches and Agarbattis: Ship,[39] i Kno and Aim brands of safety matches[40] and
the Mangaldeep brand of agarbattis (Incense Sticks).[41]

Hotels: ITC's Hotels division (under brands including WelcomHotel) is India's second largest
hotel chain with over 90 hotels throughout India.[42] ITC is also the exclusivefranchisee in India of
two brands owned by Sheraton International Inc. Brands in the hospitality sector owned and
operated by its subsidiaries include Fortune Park Hotels andWelcomHeritage Hotels.[42]

Paperboard: Products such as specialty paper, graphic and other paper are sold under the ITC
brand by the ITC Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division.[43]

Packaging and Printing: ITC's Packaging and Printing division operates manufacturing
facilities at Haridwar and Chennai and services domestic and export markets.[44]

Information Technology: ITC operates through its fully owned subsidiary ITC Infotech India
Limited, which is a SEI CMM Level 5 company.[45]

Shareholding and listings[edit]

ITC's equity shares are listed on Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange of
India and Calcutta Stock Exchange.[46][47] The company's Global Depository Receipts(GDRs) are
listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.[48]

Shareholders (as on 31-March-2013)

Foreign companies (mainly British American Tobacco Company)

Shareholding[6]

30.54%

Foreign Institutional Investors (FII)

19.68%

Banks, Financial Institutions, Insurance Companies and Mutual Funds 33.44%

Bodies Corporate

04.91%

Public and Others

11.13%

GDRs

00.30%

Total

100.00%

Employees[edit]
As per the Annual report of the company, it had 25,960 employees as on 31 March 2013,[6] out of
which 3,043 were women.[12] It spent Rs. 2,145 crores on Employee benefits during the FY 201213.[5] During the same year, its attrition rate was 12%.[12]
Its Chairman Y C Deveshwar has won renowned awards and recognitions including Padma
Bhushan from Govt. of India[6][49][50] and 7th best performing CEO in the world by Harvard Business
Review.[51]
Meera Shankar, Indian ambassador to USA between 2009 and 2011, joined the board of ITC
Limited as the first woman director in its history.[52] She is an additional non-executive director of the
company.[53]

Outreach[edit]

e-Choupal[edit]
Main article: E-Choupal
ITC's e-Choupal initiative is designed to make the power of the Internet available to Indian
farmers.[54] The company places computers with Internet access in rural farming villages, serving
both as a social gathering place for exchange of information (choupal means gathering place in
Hindi) and an e-commerce hub. As of July 2010, services through 6,500 e-Choupal across 10 states
reach more than 4 million farmers in about 40,000 villages. The potential of e-Choupal is also being
tested through pilot projects in healthcare, educational services, water management and cattle

health management. In 2008, this initiative was recognised in the list of "Innovations to make
markets more inclusive for the poor" in World Development Report Sep-2008 by the World Bank.[55]

ITC Sangeet Research Academy[edit]

Main article: ITC Sangeet Research Academy
ITC Sangeet Research Academyis a Hindustani classical music academy established in 1977 and
located in Kolkata.[56] Some noted musicians are associated with this academy.[57]

Awards and recognitions[edit]

In 1994 and 1995, the ILTD Division in Chirala and Anaparti won the "Best of all" Rajiv Gandhi
National Quality Award[58]

ITC features on the Forbes Global 2000 rankings for 2012 at position 841.[7] In the same
rankings, the company's market value placed it as the 184th largest company in the
world.[7] Forbes has also included the company in Asia's Fab 50 Companies list.[59]

In 2013, ITC was ranked the third most admired company in India by Fortune.[60]

In 2011, all of ITCs super premium luxury hotels were accorded LEED Platinum certification,
making ITC Hotels the Greenest Luxury Hotel Chain in the World.[61][62]

In 2010, ITC was ranked 6th amongst global consumer goods companies in sustainable value
creation during 2005-09, by Boston Consulting Group.[63]

It received the National Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance from the Institute of
Company Secretaries of India in 2007.[1][64]

In 2006, ITC's e-Choupal program won the Stockholm Challenge Award 2006 in the Economic
Development category. This program enables over 3.5 million farmers to access crop-specific
and customised information in their native village habitat and language.[65][66]