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

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.
Business
ICEA launches industry-wide initiative to foster tech and AI innovation

New Delhi, June 3: The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on Tuesday announced a unique industry-wide initiative to collaboratively foster tech and AI innovation for the benefit of India’s manufacturing sector.
The programme will connect companies with transformative innovations across domains such as advanced manufacturing, AI, IoT, energy efficiency, materials science, and more.
The ICEA launched Venture Access Labs — a technology innovation access programme in collaboration with venture capital fund Caret Capital.
This initiative aims to empower India’s electronics and appliances manufacturing companies by enabling them to discover, curate, and adopt cutting-edge technologies and innovations from across the world.
“Through Venture Access Labs, ICEA is proud to champion and unlock global innovation to strengthen India’s position as a global hub for manufacturing and electronics with a vision to build Indian Champions,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.
“By opening the door to international technological advancements and building an innovation pipeline, we aim to accelerate India’s electronics manufacturing capabilities and global competitiveness so as to capture a larger global market share,” he added.
The comprehensive programme will cover several functions including procurement, planning, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, HR, legal and ESG.
Through this programme, companies will benefit from innovation trend spotting, curated access to high-impact startups and Ips, strategic matchmaking and pilot opportunities, tailored adoption pathways for new technologies, and facilitated investments in strategically relevant, vetted high-potential startups.
“It is time for the Indian electronics and appliances manufacturing to transit to tech first-led global leadership,” said Salil Kapoor, Co-founder and Chief mentor of Venture Access Labs.
It will be the innovation catalyst and partner, scanning and curating the latest tech and game-changing startups from across the world for Indian manufacturing companies to engage with, at a fraction of the cost if they were to do it on their own,” he mentioned.
National
Calcutta HC refuses ad-interim bail to law student held for hurting religious sentiments, seeks case diary

Kolkata, June 3: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday denied ad-interim bail to Sharmistha Panoli, the 22-year-old law student arrested recently by Kolkata Police on charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting disharmony and hatred.
As her counsel approached the High Court, challenging the trial court’s order last week sending her to judicial custody till June 13, the matter came up for hearing before the vacation bench of Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee.
However, Justice Chatterjee denied any relief to Panoli, observing that the freedom of speech in the country does not allow anyone to hurt anyone’s religious sentiment.
An FIR was registered against Panoli at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15 for posting an Instagram video, where she made some comments on ‘Operation Sindoor’ that had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community.
In the face of strong criticism, she deleted that video and also tendered a public apology for the matter. However, based on the FIR registered, the police first sent her a notice, which failed since she had gone into hiding in Gurugram by then.
Thereafter, an arrest warrant was issued against her, and finally, she was arrested from Gurugram by Kolkata Police on Saturday morning and was brought back to Kolkata on transit remand on the same day.
Rejecting the ad-interim bail, Justice Chatterjee observed that the video posted on social media had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a section of people. “We have freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean you will go on to hurt others. Our country is diverse, with all people. We must be cautious,” he said.
He directed the police to submit the case diary in the matter by the next date of hearing on June 5.
The vacation bench also directed the state government to ensure that police do not pursue any other complaint filed against Panoli in any other police station. It also directed the police not to register any fresh complaints in the same matter.
National
Bodies of three workers recovered from flooded illegal coal mine in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh

Hazaribagh, June 3: Thirteen days after they were trapped, the bodies of three workers have been recovered from an illegal coal mine in Keredari block of Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, officials said on Tuesday.
The deceased, whose bodies were recovered late on Monday night, have been identified as Pramod Shah, 45, Umesh Kumar, 25, and Naushad Ansari, 24 — all residents of Kandaber village under the Keredari police station area.
The three men were reportedly swept into the mine on May 21, when heavy rainfall caused the Khawa River to swell.
Villagers said the strong current pushed the workers into one of the numerous illegal tunnels that dot the region, many of which are controlled by coal mafias and continue to operate despite the risks involved.
The mine shaft where they were trapped was more than 100 feet deep and quickly flooded, making rescue efforts extremely challenging.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conducted a three-day operation to locate and retrieve the bodies but had to suspend efforts due to waterlogging.
Subsequently, the task of dewatering the mine was taken up by NTPC and a private company. After days of continuous pumping, the water level finally receded, which enabled local villagers to recover the bodies late on Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, police sent the bodies for autopsy to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital in Hazaribagh. After the post-mortem, the bodies were brought back to Kandaber and cremated on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident plunged the village into mourning, with relatives and neighbours breaking down as the news spread.
There were scenes of chaos and wailing as the bodies were brought into the village.
Following the recovery, villagers renewed calls for compensation and the provision of government jobs for one dependent of each deceased worker.
Despite repeated incidents, illegal mining continues unabated in the Khawa river belt of Keredari, drawing hundreds of locals desperate for work and vulnerable to exploitation.
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