Business
ITC scales up its 360-degree interventions for ‘Greener Earth’
On this World Environment Day, ITC reaffirmed its commitment towards a ‘Greener Earth’ through its bold Sustainability 2.0 agenda.
Building on its sustainability journey of over two decades, ITC, under the leadership of its Chairman Sanjiv Puri, has articulated an ambitious Vision to scale up its efforts in fighting climate change, whilst supporting large scale sustainable livelihoods.
Commenting on ITC’s multidimensional sustainability initiatives, S Sivakumar, Group Head, Agri, IT and Sustainability, ITC Ltd, said: “ITC has, over the years, implemented innovative business models which synergise the building of economic, environmental, and social capital as a unified strategy. Today, our ambitious Sustainability 2.0 agenda aims to further strengthen ITC’s efforts towards decarbonisation, building green infrastructure, promoting climate-smart and regenerative agriculture, ensuring water security for all, restoring biodiversity through nature-based solutions, creating an effective circular economy, creating sustainable packaging solutions and enabling the transition to a net zero economy. We believe this will go a long way in combating the climate crisis and supporting meaningful livelihood opportunities.”
ITC is today the only Company of comparable dimensions to be water, carbon, and solid waste recycling positive for over a decade and a half.
In recognition of its superior Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) models, the Company has been rated ‘A’ at the Leadership Level for both Climate Change and Water Security by CDP, ‘AA’ by MSCI-ESG (the highest amongst peers) and was also included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index.
As a part of its efforts to transition towards Net Zero, ITC has made significant investments in renewable energy. Currently, clean energy powers 24 factories, 14 hotels, and five office buildings across 14 states.
Last year, ITC set a target to meet 100 per cent of its grid electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030. Currently, it meets around 42 100 per cent of all its electrical energy requirements through renewable means.
With a focus on solar energy, the company has commissioned both onsite and offsite plants across states. ITC has maximized usage of rooftops of its Integrated Consumer Goods Manufacturing and Logistics (ICML) facilities, factories and warehouses for solar power generation. As many as 39 properties of ITC are Platinum rated green buildings by USGBC-LEED/IGBC. ITC’s Windsor Hotel in Bengaluru became the first hotel in the world to be LEED� Zero Carbon certified, followed by ITC Grand Chola and ITC Gardenia.
To contribute to a ‘Greener Earth’, ITC has also been running an integrated water stewardship programme, covering over 1.33 million acres of land and creating a total rainwater harvesting potential which was over 3 times the net water consumed by its operations during last year. The demand management interventions for promoting water efficiency in agriculture have resulted in potential water savings to the tune of 496.5 million cubic metres till date. Following the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Platinum level certification of ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers unit at Kovai, the first ever site in India to achieve the highest global standard, the Company is in the process of implementing the AWS Standards and obtaining certification at other units in high water stress areas.
Similarly, ITC’s extensive biodiversity programme focuses on reviving ecosystem services provided to agriculture such as natural regulation of pests, pollination, nutrient cycling, soil health retention and genetic diversity, which have witnessed considerable erosion over the past few decades. The initiative has cumulatively covered 1.3 lakh acres in more than 29 districts across 10 states. ITC aims to expand the programme to cover over 10,00,000 acres by 2030.
To de-risk agriculture from effects of climate change, ITC has introduced a Climate Smart Agriculture programme, which covers 15 lakh acres, benefitting over 4.5 lakh farmers. As an integral part of this, a Climate Smart Village initiative covering over 2,500 villages and over 8.2 lakh acres, has led to reduction in GHG emissions by up to 66 100 per cent and an increase in communities’ income by up to 93 100 per cent for soyabean crop in Madhya Pradesh. ITC’s large-scale social and farm forestry programme has greened over 9,50,000 acres, generating over 173million person days of employment.
Moving towards Circular Economy, the Company went beyond plastic neutrality in 2021-22 by collecting and sustainably managing more than 54,000 tonnes of plastic waste across 35 states/union territories. ITC’s flagship solid waste management programme, ITC ‘WOW’ or Well Being Out of Waste, programme, has covered over 1.8 crore citizens providing sustainable livelihood to more than 17,300 waste collectors.
In line with its Vision for a sustainable packaging future, ITC’s Paperboards and Packaging Businesses have leveraged cutting-edge research and innovation capabilities of ITC Life Sciences and technology Centre to launch several first-of-its kind packaging solutions, which facilitate reduction, substitution and recyclability of plastic.
The company is now endeavouring to ensure that over the next decade, 100 per cent of its packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable/biodegradable.
New Delhi: India is expected to clock 6.7 per cent growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal (FY26), outpacing the RBI Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC’s) recent forecast of 6.5 per cent, credit rating agency ICRA said on Tuesday.The rating agency report projects the growth in the gross value added (GVA) to stand at 6.4 per cent in Q1 FY2026.
Improved transmission of monetary easing and the recent announcement of forthcoming GST rationalisation may help to shore up urban consumption sentiments ahead of the festive season, the report said.”ICRA estimates a double-digit growth in net indirect taxes (in nominal terms), aided by the sharp uptick in the government of India’s indirect taxes (+11.3 per cent in Q1 FY26 from -3.1 per cent in Q4 FY2025), despite the narrower contraction in its subsidy outgo,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, Head-Research and Outreach, ICRA.
“Benefitting from robust government capital as well as revenue spending, upfronted exports to some geographies and nascent signals of improved consumption, the pace of expansion in economic activity in Q1 FY2026 is estimated at 6.7 per cent,” Aditi Nayar said.The rating agency estimates the YoY growth in the services GVA to increase to an eight-quarter high of 8.3 per cent in Q1 FY26, from 7.3 per cent in Q4 FY25, supporting the overall GVA expansion in that quarter.
In particular, the combined non-interest revenue expenditure of 24 state governments reported a double-digit YoY growth of 10.7 per cent in Q1 FY26, up from 7.2 per cent in Q4 FY25.Likewise, the Central government’s non-interest revenue expenditure saw a turnaround, recording a YoY growth of 6.9 per cent against a contraction of 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter, said the report.
Rural sentiments, as reflected in the Current Situation Index (CSI) improved further in the July 2025 (100.6) round of the RBI’s Rural Consumer Confidence Survey, reflecting favourable trends in farm output in the last two cropping seasons, and the upbeat outlook for the ongoing kharif season, and a considerable cooling in the rural CPI inflation.
New Delhi: To avoid rush by ensuring hassle-free ticket booking experience during the upcoming peak festive seasons, the Ministry of Railways on Saturday said that it has decided to formulate a ‘Round Trip Package’ on discounted fare and rebates benefit.
The move will facilitate passengers and redistribute the peak traffic for a larger range during peak festival seasons and ensure both sides utilisation of trains, including special trains.
“It has been decided to formulate an experimental scheme named as Round Trip Package for festival rush on discounted fare,” the Railways Ministry stated.
According to the ministry, the scheme will be applicable for those passengers who choose their return journey during the prescribed period.
Under this scheme, rebates shall be applicable when booked for both the onward and return journey for the same set of passengers.
Passenger details of the return journey will be the same as those of the onward journey. Passengers can book their tickets from August 14 for the advance reservation period (ARP) date of October 13.
“An onward ticket shall be booked first for the train start date between 13th October 2025 and 26th October 2025, and subsequently return journey ticket shall be booked by using the connecting journey feature for the train start date between 17th November and 1st December 2025,” the Ministry stated.
However, advance reservation period will not be applicable for booking of return journey.
Other conditions to avail the benefits of the railway’s new special scheme are the booking shall be permissible only for confirmed tickets in both directions, total rebates of 20 per cent shall be granted on base fare of return journey only, booking under this scheme shall be for the same class and same O-D pair for both onward and return journey.
According to Railways, no refund of fare shall be permissible for the tickets booked under this scheme.
This scheme shall be allowed for all classes and in all trains, including special trains (Trains on demand), except trains having Flexi fare.
In addition, no modification will be allowed on these tickets in either of the journeys, and there will be no discounts, Rail travel coupons, Voucher-based bookings, or Passes be admissible during return journey booking on concessional fare.
Passenger can book their ticket via both online and offline modes; however, both onward and return journey tickets must be booked using the same mode (online or offline).
Mumbai: The Indian stock market ended Monday on a strong note, with the BSE Sensex rising 418.81 points (0.52%) to close at 81,018.72, crossing the key 81,000 mark. During the day, it touched a high of 81,093.19. The NSE Nifty also surged by 157.40 points (0.64%) to end at 24,722.75, after hitting an intraday high of 24,734.65.
Top gainers and losers
Among major gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel, BEL, Adani Ports, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Trent, M&M, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement and L&T.
On the flip side, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Hindustan Unilever ended the session with losses.
Why the market rallied
The market’s rally was mainly driven by strong performances in the metal and auto sectors. According to experts, a weakening US dollar, strong auto sales, and positive Q1 results from key companies helped boost investor confidence.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said,
“Consumption-driven companies are showing recovery in volume demand. Also, weak US job data may lead to interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.”
Global cues positive
Asian markets mostly ended in the green with Hong Kong, South Korea, and China posting gains. However, Japan’s Nikkei closed in red.
European markets were trading positively, while US markets had ended lower on Friday.
Oil prices also slipped, with Brent crude falling 1.15% to USD 68.87 per barrel.
Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,366.40 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.
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