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ITC: It's not just about tobacco!

November 3, 2008

K Vaidyanath, one of ITC's executive directors, says, "If we had not expanded into new businesses and stayed with just cigarettes, we would have not been able to extend our top lines, growth would have come much slower."

Ramesh Sarin, who worked with Haksar as the deputy chairman of diversification and the chairman of Bhadrachalam Paperboards, feels that there has been a paradigm shift in diversification under the leadership of Deveshwar. "The old diversifications have been digested and are now safe bets. The new ones like food and FMCG will bring in the volumes giving ITC the spread a large company needs," he says.

With the accelerated growth, the new businesses, especially the non-cigarette FMCG portfolio, account for over 50 per cent of our turnover. Vaidyanath says it has been a "strategic decision to grow through FMCG. Most of our FMCG divisions already have 8 to 10 per cent of the market, and we lead in the atta market."

Some of ITC's businesses have exhibited enviable speed, with the snacks brand Bingo reportedly securing 11 per cent of the market within six months of its launch in 2007.

ITC claims a market share of 40-45 per cent in the packaged food market and almost 12 per cent in snacks.

Image: Divisional chief executive ITC Limited Foods Division Ravi Naware poses with packets of the company's snacks brands during a launch ceremony. | Photograph: Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: Global Hunger Index: India ranks a poor 66th
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