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Sanjiv Puri’s ‘Next’ strategy drives ITC into future-ready lane with smart innovation in FMCG, Hotels, Agri

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Sanjiv-Puri

 Diversified consumer goods conglomerate ITC appears to be closing in on turning its fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG), agriculture and hotel segments as its main growth drivers, with chairman Sanjiv Puri shepherding the ‘Next’ strategy for its next horizon of growth through bold acquisitions, and disruptive digital innovation.

This new strategy is aimed at ensuring that the ITC remains future-oriented, consumer-centric, and nimble to create enduring value for stakeholders, something that the financial results are mirroring with FMCG and agriculture contributing nearly half of its total revenues in the April-June quarter.

The FMCG segment has been driven by higher demand for hygiene products, fragrances, spices, snacks, agarbattis and dairy products, with Salvon standing out as a growth engine of sorts.

ITC acquired Savlon from Johnson & Johnson in 2015, foraying into the disinfectant and antiseptic products market. Savlon crossed Rs 1,200 crore in consumer spends in 2020-21, growing more than 13 times since acquisition, making it the largest brand in the company’s personal care products portfolio, overtaking Vivel.

ITC has launched over 120 new products over the last one year, with product innovations in hygiene, nutrition and convenience segments. These include Savlon’s foray into surface and cloth disinfectant sprays, ‘neem’ based cleaning solutions Nimwash and Nimeasy, convenience-focused products such as ITC Master Chef Frozen Snacks, and scale up nascent categories and products such like B Natural juices, Fabelle chocolates amongst others.

In four years from 2016-17 to 2020-21, the FMCG segment’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margins have improved by 640 bps.

FMCG on fast lane

The company today is one of the largest incubators of world-class Indian brands. ITC FMCG business has garnered consumer spends of over Rs 22,000 crore and delighting more than 150 million households.

Scaling up and fortification of existing growth platforms consisting of megabrands is an essential cog in the wheel of ITC’s next strategy. The company has expanded its purpose-led brands like Savlon, Aashirvaad, and Sunfeast into adjacent categories with remarkable success. These brands have immense headroom to grow given the relatively lower household penetration and rising per capita income. ITC is exploring more value accretive inorganic opportunities as an additional pillar of growth.

Puri’s strategy to make ITC future-ready manifests in Life Sciences and Technology Centre (LSTC). LSTC helped ITC to launch 120 products amid the pandemic to meet emerging preferences. Towards this goal, the company has launched 9 state-of-the-art integrated consumer goods manufacturing facilities (ICML) to create structural advantages and drive enhanced competitiveness is also worth mentioning.

The new-age consumer is a digital native with extensive engagement in social and e-commerce platforms. Recognizing this, ITC is identifying emerging trends in real-time through its Marketing Command Centres called ‘Sixth Sense’ to speedily launch differentiated products as also creatively engage with consumers.

Under the ‘Next’ strategy, Puri has clearly sought to explore opportunities to craft disruptive business models anchored at the intersection of digital and sustainability. It is deploying a smart ecosystem with an integrated real-time operations platform across the organization to enable next-generation supply chains and smart manufacturing with digitally enabled factories.

The company has adopted multi-dimensional digital interventions for smart sourcing, smart logistics across businesses, and Industry 4.0 implementation in manufacturing. This is in addition to customized apps to facilitate digital ordering and trade engagement.

It has fast-tracked its journey in e-commerce, to meet the growing preference for ‘contactless shopping’. This is besides strengthening the direct-to-consumer platform, ‘ITC e-Store’ to reach consumers in newer geographies and introducing more ‘digital first’ brands to leverage the growing e-commerce space.

ITC under Puri’s stewardship is unwavering in its resolve to build a formidable FMCG business. Revenues from its FMCG business during the quarter stood at Rs 3726 crore, accounting for 25 per cent of the quarterly revenues. The agriculture segment turned in revenues of Rs 4,091 crore, accounting for 28 per cent of the company’s total quarterly revenues of Rs 14,649 crore before netting out inter-segment revenues of Rs 1,764 crore.

Big data, AI in agri

ITC’s decades-old agri business, powered by the e-choupal network, also appears to be coming of age.

Once the legal framework is in place that allows farmers to sell their produce outside their areas of cultivation, there is a clear opportunity in agri-business, similar to what ITC e-choupal in India and Pinduoduo in China have done successfully with scale.

Both are examples of using big data, technology network and artificial intelligence (AI) in farming to offer a better deal to peasants, make agriculture a rewarding vocation and bring them closer to the global markets by building digital platforms linking retailers with products consumers.

These will enable aggregation from farmers, incentivise creation of warehousing networks along highways, village storage schemes and the digitised app-based system for direct marketing by farmers, a model that ITC e-choupal has broadly demonstrated over the years.

Baareh Mahine Hariyali, an ITC e-Choupal initiative, which has combined multiple initiatives of cropping intensity (wheat, rice and summer moong), productivity enhancement and market linkages.

As reported by ITC, over 2 lakh farmers have already benefited from the interventions under the ‘Baareh MahineHariyali’ programme — over 35,000 farmers who have adopted the package of practices reported doubling of income and those who have implemented the programme partially reported increase in their incomes by 30 per cent to 75 per cent.

ITC, under Puri, is now implementing e-Choupal 4.0 at scale to bring the benefits of the digital revolution to agriculture. Envisaged as a ‘phygital’ system, the e-Choupal 4.0 is designed as a crop agnostic integrated solution framework that will synergistically aggregate technologies like remote sensing, precision farming, drone-based services, quality assaying and e-marketplace.

ITC e-Choupal 4.0 aims to strengthen agricultural entrepreneurship and agri-tech startups through agri services aggregator models, thereby empowering farmers with next generation agricultural practices. The aim of the model is to sharpen personalisation of agri services driven by data and analytics.

This may well be the right time for ITC’s integrated agribusiness enterprises with significant presence across crop development, procurement, supply chain, processing and marketing to decisively shift gears through a tech-driven matrix mounted on apps, blockchain, warehousing, AI and big data.

With the launch of Super App ‘ITC-MAARS’ that will bring the next phase of transformation in its agri-business and support the e-choupal through strength and scale under Puri.

Hotels and more

ITC’s hotel business has acquired scale and market standing over time. It is now set for a turnaround with the management decision to pursue asset right strategy while simultaneously leveraging ITC’s world-class properties.

Against this backdrop, the move to refresh ‘Welcomhotel’ is a long-awaited development as it will help the company to generate leads and pipeline for management contracts. Also, the launch of a new boutique brand christened ‘The Storii’ to offer the new-age traveller curated nature experiences will help the company make inroads into the emerging segment.

Crime

Bengaluru: Nursing student raped by PG owner after confessing to theft; accused held

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Bengaluru, June 25: An incident has been reported from Bengaluru on Wednesday where a nursing student was allegedly raped by the owner of a paying guest (PG) accommodation after she confessed to a theft, officials said.

The police have arrested the accused.

The arrested person has been identified as 35-year-old Ravi Teja Reddy, the owner of the PG facility.

According to the police, Reddy raped the 21-year-old woman after she admitted to stealing three gold rings from another girl residing in the same PG.

Following the victim’s complaint, Reddy has been booked for rape and taken into police custody.

The victim, a nursing graduate from Andhra Pradesh, had joined the PG only a week prior to the incident and was searching for a job, the police said.

Investigations revealed that the victim had allegedly stolen three gold rings from another PG inmate.

She had also disconnected the CCTV camera wire during the theft.

However, she asked another inmate whether the CCTV footage would still be recorded despite the wire of the CCTV camera being cut.

This conversation was shared with Reddy, which raised his suspicion on the nurse.

Reddy then summoned the victim for questioning and threatened to hand her over to the police.

The girl reportedly confessed to the theft, after which Reddy instructed his aides to retrieve the hidden valuables, police added.

When the victim pleaded with Reddy to forgive her and not to inform the police, he allegedly slapped her and sexually assaulted her.

Initially hesitant to file a complaint, the victim later confided in a male friend.

The friend then contacted a city-based advocate, who helped lodge a formal complaint with the police.

Based on the complaint, the police sent the victim for a medical examination and arrested the accused.

Reddy has been booked under Sections 64(1), 74, and 75(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act.

In her complaint, the victim said that Reddy initially touched her private parts under the pretext of checking her.

When she resisted, he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex.

The FIR further mentions that the victim, unable to control her urge to vomit after the assault, ran to the restroom.

Reddy followed her and allegedly forced her to have unnatural sex again.

The victim also said that Reddy later threatened her not to reveal the incident to anyone.

It was only after the victim’s friends came to her support that she gathered the courage to file a complaint.

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International

South Korea welcomes Israel-Iran ceasefire, commends US’ diplomatic efforts

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Seoul, June 25: The South Korean Foreign Ministry on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and praised the diplomatic efforts led by the US and other involved countries.

“We hope that all parties will faithfully implement the terms of the agreement so that tensions in the region can be eased swiftly,” the ministry said in a statement.

As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, South Korea “will continue to participate in the international community’s efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East,” Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump declared that a ceasefire between Iran and Israel had officially taken effect, urging both sides to maintain restraint.

“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!” Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social.

The announcement came amid escalating violence in the Middle East, but President Trump’s declaration appeared to catch both parties off guard. The ceasefire claim was quickly contradicted by Iran, which asserted it had not received any formal proposal from Washington and had not agreed to a bilateral ceasefire.

US President Trump also wrote, “Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, ‘Peace’! I knew the time was NOW. The World, and the Middle East, are the real winners!”

“Both Nations will see tremendous love, peace and prosperity in their futures. They have so much to gain, and yet, so much to lose if they stray from the road of righteousness and truth. The future for Israel & Iran is unlimited and filled with great promise. God bless you both!” he added.

Earlier, Iran announced a unilateral halt to its military operations against Israel, effective 4 a.m. local time, but made it clear that the pause was conditional, based entirely on whether Israel would stop its own airstrikes and military actions.

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Crime

PFI had ‘hit list’ of 950 in Kerala including judge, reveals NIA probe

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Kochi, June 25: In a startling revelation made by the National Investigating Agency (NIA), it has surfaced that the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) had prepared a hit list of 950 people in Kerala.

The list, which surfaced in the media on Wednesday, included a now-retired district judge.

Incidentally, this list was submitted early this month by the NIA at a special court here when the bail applications of four accused in the murder of RSS leader Sreenivasan came up for hearing. The NIA opposed the bail strongly. The four accused, identified as Muhammad Bilal, Riyasudheen, Ansar K.P. and Saheer K.V., were arrested for murdering Sreenivasan at Palakkad, Kerala, in 2022.

The list of 950 was compiled after getting confirmed inputs from different places by the NIA probe team. It includes eight documents seized from the 51st accused, Sirajudheen, which contain a list of 240 people from other communities.

Then, while conducting a search held at Periyar Valley Campus at Aluva, NIA was able to get the details of five targeted persons from the purse of the 15th accused, Abdul Wahad, who is presently on the run.

It was in this list that the name of a former district judge was found.

Another document seized from an accused, who turned approver later, contained a hit list with the names of 232 people.

Similarly, a search held at the home of the 69th accused, Ayoob, a hit list containing the names of about 500 people was found.

When the NIA was probing the Sreenivasan case, the PFI link emerged. It was later found that PFI had sinister plans to create unrest in the country.

During the investigation, the anti-terror agency got details of the PFI carrying out physical and arms training for its cadres.

The NIA has now claimed that it has voice clips and witness statements that reveal the ‘India 2047 plan’ of setting up Islamic rule in India.

The special court, after hearing both sides and going through the documents produced before it, observed that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the petitioners was prima facie true, and rejected the bail petition.

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