ITC chairman Puri sees firm leading in all segments in maiden AGM address

Last fiscal year, the company launched 50 products to build existing categories and acquired Charmis brand of face cream and Nimyle floor cleaners to gain entry into new segments

After taking charge as the chairman of cigarettes-to-hotels major ITC Ltd, Sanjiv Puri, in his maiden address at the company’s 108th Annual General Meeting, stated that the firm intends to lead in all the business segments it operates in. 

“It is your company’s aspiration to be a leader in every business segment that we operate in and be acknowledged as a trusted provider of best-in-class products and services,” Puri told shareholders. 

“Towards this (end), we will continue to invest in enhancing international competitiveness in each business, not only to reinforce the pole position achieved in several segments, but also speedily attain leadership in the newer businesses,” he said. 

In the last fiscal year, the company launched 50 products, including liquid pouch milk under the Aashirvaad Svasti brand, frozen foods from the ITC Master Chef collection and others to strengthen existing categories. Acquisitions like the Charmis brand of face cream and Nimyle floor cleaners were acquired to enter new segments. 

Currently, around 25 per cent of ITC’s segment revenue comes from newer FMCG businesses under the non-cigarette portfolio. The segment’s EBITDA, at Rs 688 crore in the last fiscal year, rose by 51 per cent year-on-year. The company is of the view that it must not only strive to fortify existing categories towards delivering industry-leading performance but also enter newer categories and sub-segments. 

ITC’s non-cigarette FMCG portfolio of brands today represents an annual consumer spend of Rs 18,000 crore, of which the Aashirvaad brand's share is the largest at Rs 4,500 crore; Sunfeast accounts for over Rs 3,800 crore; the Bingo portfolio is nearly Rs 2,500 crore; the Classmate brand is over Rs 1,400 crore, Yippee brand of noodles stands at over Rs 1,100 crore and Vivel, Mangaldeep and Candyman are over Rs 500 crore each.