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ITC goes beyond Plastic Neutrality in 2021-22, achieves yet another Sustainability Milestone

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In line with the commitment made last year, diversified Indian conglomerate ITC has gone beyond plastic neutrality in 2021-22 through the orchestration of an integrated solid waste management programme that incorporates unique and multidimensional initiatives.

The Company collected and sustainably managed more than 54,000 tonnes of plastic waste across 35 states and union territories. The amount of plastic waste managed exceeded the amount of plastic packaging utilised by ITC during the year, enabling the company to achieve the milestone of plastic neutrality.

For more than a decade, the company has been running a holistic 360-degree solid waste management programme that is based on the principles of a circular economy and encompasses the entire waste value chain.

For a company with large-scale operations in FMCG and hospitality, going beyond plastic neutrality is a commendable feat to accomplish. The milestone is yet another reflection of ITC’s commitment to augmenting environmental and social capital, in line with Chairman Sanjiv Puri’s Sustainability 2.0 vision that calls for inclusive strategies that can support even more livelihoods and pursue newer pathways to fight climate change.

ITC has achieved this milestone by scaling up its portfolio of holistic initiatives focused on in-house innovation, robust waste management programmes centred around source segregation and sustainable business practices with mass impact.

“Over the decades, ITC has made industry leading efforts in end-to-end waste management. Through a large-scale and integrated solid waste management programme, ITC moved beyond plastic neutrality this year. In addition, the company is also using cutting-edge innovations to develop sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging for the industry.

“This milestone has been possible due to the untiring efforts of all our partners and I would take this opportunity to congratulate them for supporting Team ITC’s aspirations of contributing meaningfully to address some of the major sustainability challenges facing the country. The efforts to move beyond plastic neutrality and sustainable management of waste will continue apace in the years ahead as part of our Sustainability 2.0 agenda.” said Sanjiv Rangrass group head, ITC Life Sciences & Technology, Central Projects, EHS & Quality Assurance, ITC Ltd.

ITC has adopted a multi-pronged approach to reduce plastic in the company’s operations spanning Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Hotels, Paperboards and Packaging. This includes creating robust next-generation environment friendly packaging solutions, mega-scale waste collection programmes under its flagship waste management initiative ‘ITC WOW – Well-Being Out of Waste’ as well as focussed interventions in rural areas; a culture of plastic-free operations – in line with its philosophy of ‘Responsible Luxury’ to eliminate single-use plastic usage in ITC Hotels; and innovative models for sustainability which has plastic reduction and management at their core.

Within its operations, ITC has been recycling more than 99% of the waste for more than a decade.

ITC WOW, which enables the creation of a clean & green environment through community partnerships, has so far covered 18 million citizens across 46.7 lakh households in India. Currently operational in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, major towns of Telangana, Coimbatore, Chennai, Tirupur, Cochin, Muzaffarpur, Delhi and several districts of Andhra Pradesh, the initiative has raised awareness in over 52 lakh school children and 2,000 corporates since its inception. The initiative has also created sustainable livelihoods for over 16900 waste collectors by facilitating an effective collection system in collaboration with municipal corporations.

In addition to WOW, a separate ITC programme on Solid Waste Management (SWM), which deals with both wet and dry waste, is also operational in 17 districts of 9 states covering 14.6 lakh households.

Acknowledging the challenges with respect to disposal and recycling of multi-layered plastic, ITC has also pioneered a first of its kind sustainable and inclusive multi-layered plastic (MLP) management model in Pune.

The company’s targetted waste management initiatives not only ensure that lesser waste goes into landfills, but also enable larger value recovery from waste, thereby creating sustainable livelihoods for waste collectors, while creating additional income streams from collecting and sorting plastic waste. The company’s waste management programmes cover all categories of plastic waste, including flexibles, rigids and tetra packs.

Being India’s leading paperboards and specialty paper company, ITC has also introduced several sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging. Leveraging the cutting-edge R&D capabilities of ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre (LSTC), Bengaluru, the Company has developed multiple sustainable packaging solutions for the industry, including the recyclable barrier board under the ‘Filo Series’ – an innovative substitute for single-use plastics in the food services segment, as well as the biodegradable ‘Omega Series’, launched as an alternative to plastic-coated containers and cups. Some of the other innovations by the Company include ‘Bioseal’ for replacement of polyethylene coating, ‘Oxyblock’ for improving barrier properties and recyclability, and the ‘Green Stiffner’ – a first of its kind compostable and recyclable solution.

In December last year, ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division (PSPD), also collaborated with the Invest India, a non-profit venture under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to launch the ‘ITC Sustainability Innovation Challenge’ which is aimed at supporting and crowd-sourcing innovative technology-based solutions from the start-up ecosystem on sustainable packaging and smart waste management.

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India Set To Lead The World In 6G, Says Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

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In a bold declaration at the inaugural address of the Indian Mobile Congress 2024 (IMC) on Tuesday, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has said that India will lead the world in the adoption of 6G.

In his address at the event, Scindia emphasized that India is now prepared to lead the world in the development of 6G technology.

India’s Technological Rise: From Following to Leading

“It is our belief and commitment that India, which followed the world in 4G and marched with it in 5G, will lead the world in 6G,” Scindia stated.

The minister highlighted India’s remarkable achievements in the telecommunications sector over the last ten years, the country has become a global leader in innovation and technology.

“It’s a fundamental change in approach towards technology development,” he said, attributing this transformation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Telecom Sector Growth Under PM Modi’s Leadership

“Prime Minister who has always put people at the heart of progress Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishvas aur Sabka Prayas combined with his second motto, One Earth, One Family and One Future. It is combination of these two mottos that leads India under PM Narendra Modi leadership one of the leading sectors in the committee of Nations,” Scindia said.

Scindia underscored government’s initiatives to bridge the digital divide, particularly through the BharatNet program, the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity initiative to connect every panchayat of the nation. Over the past three years, the government has invested more than USD 10 billion and laid 7 lakh kilometres of fiber across rural India.

Digital Payments and UPI: Pillars of India’s Digital Economy

He cited staggering growth in mobile and broadband connectivity, with mobile connections rising from 94 million to 1.16 billion, and broadband users growing from 60 million to 924 million in just a decade. India’s optical fibre cable (OFC) networks has expanded from 11 million kilometers to 41 million kilometres over the last ten years, he added.

The minister further said that this growth is accompanied by the success of India’s digital payment systems, the 4G stack, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which serve as pillars of India’s digital economy are expected to contribute significantly to the global digital infrastructure.

Scindia further noted that the government’s efforts to ensure that policy frameworks keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. “The recent changes to the Telecommunications act 2023 is a case in point. It has been drawing light upon hither to undressed areas such as a high potential sector of satellite communications, addressing the challenges of the digital leader. The most important being cyber security. The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitioushe said.

“The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitious and its outlook in our Journey from Amritkal to Shatabdikal is to lead the world,” Scindia said. By mid-next year, India will have achieved 100 per cent saturation of 4G across the entire country, covering even the most remote villages, the minister said.

He emphasised PM Modi’s vision of India as a first mover in 6G technology, underscoring the nation’s resolve to lead the world in future telecom innovations.

“The attitude put forward by the prime minister of not just embracing, but raising ourselves to becoming the first mover in the 6G technology,” he added.

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Indian Markets Gave Better Returns Than China In Last 5 Years, Says Sebi Member

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Sebi Whole-time Member Ananth Narayan G on Monday reminded investors that Indian equities have consistently delivered 15 per cent returns over the last 5 years whereas the same has been zero or even negative in China.

Terming the Indian markets “sone pe suhaga” for delivering higher returns for lower risks, Narayan also flagged a few areas of caution for investors and asked them to be conscious of the risks.

“There’s a lot of talk about China markets over the last few days. But over the last five years, while Indian markets have given around 15 per cent compound annual growth rate consistently, Chinese markets are nowhere close to that. It’s almost zero. In fact, in some cases, like in Hong Kong, it’s actually negative,” Narayan said.

Speaking at an event marking the start of the Investor Awareness Week at NSE, Narayan said FY24 was a “remarkable” year for India, with the benchmark indices returning 28 per cent and the volatility just 10 per cent.

“That’s like ‘sone pe suhaga’. It’s like the best of all worlds: low risk and very high return,” Narayan said, underlining that there are side effects of this as well.

Making it clear that it will not be the same going forward and investors should not assume it to be a one-way street, Narayan said such handsome returns can lead to complacency and pointed to a lot of youngsters opening up demat accounts to join the bandwagon.

Educating people about risks is very important, Narayan said, giving the analogy of driving a car. “There has to be a light push on the accelerator to get more investors to provide risk capital for the economic growth, we also need to be aware of risks and use the brakes if need be.” He said that 40 per cent of the small and midcap scrips have shot up by 5 times in the last five years, because of an imbalance between inflow of investor money and supply of new paper.

On its part, the capital markets regulator is trying hard to ensure that fund-raising clearances are done early so that there is a steady stream of quality paper supply in the market.

From a broader, longer-term perspective, Indian markets will only go north from here given the economic growth prospects in the country, Narayan said, issuing specific advice to investors.

Investors need to have the right intermediaries to capitalise on this opportunity presented by India, and not fall for the unregistered and fly-by-night ‘finfluencers’ who might be driven by vested interests, he said.

Using the oft-repeated idiom of “all roads lead to Rome”, Narayan remarked that Rome is not a traveller-friendly place and one may get scammed there as well. Therefore, it is important to seek advice from the right people for the investors, he said.

He also said that it is in investors’ interests to trade less and stay invested for longer for higher returns, and added that studies prove the same.

Sebi, which has flagged certain areas like derivatives recently, is not against speculation or participants taking short-term trades, but it would want investors to understand the risks, Narayan said.

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Ratan Tata Rubbishes Rumors Of ‘Critical Health’; Says No Cause For Concern

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Ratan Tata Rubbishes Rumors Of 'Critical Health'; Says No Cause For Concern

Tata Group’s Ratan Tata has denied rumours of his critical health that have been reported and have surfaced in the recent hours.

Ratan Tata’s associates took to his official Instagram account to debunk the news of him being ‘Critical’.

In the post, Ratan Tata said, “I am aware of recent rumors circulating regarding my health and want to assure everyone that these claims are unfounded. I am currently undergoing medical check-ups due to my age and related medical conditions.

There is no cause for concern. I remain in good spirits and request that the public and media respect refrain from spreading misinformation.

For more than fifty years, Ratan Tata has led the Indian business community’s entrance hall. The 86-year-old has been suffering from illnesses associated with ageing. Tata has participated in social life to the best of his limited ability despite his health issues.

Recently, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, Ratan Tata, expressed his congratulations to the Prime Minister on this occasion. “I congratulate the honourable Prime Minister on the 10-year commemoration of programmes that have benefitted millions in rural India.”

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