ITC Limited

Infobox Company
company_name = ITC India Limited
company_
company_type = Public (BSE: [http://www.bseindia.com/price_finder/stockreach.asp?scripcd=500875 ITC] )
foundation = August 24, 1910
Radha Bazar Lane, Kolkata, India
location = flagicon|IND Virginia House, Kolkata, India
key_people = flagicon|IND Y C Deveshwar, Chairman
flagicon|IND K Vaidyanath, Director, Partho Chatterjee, CFO
industry = Tobacco, Foods, Hotels, Stationery, Greeting Cards
products = Cigarettes, Packaged Food, Hotels, Apparel
revenue = profit $4.75 billion USD (2006)
num_employees = 21,000 (2007)
homepage = [http://www.itcportal.com www.itcportal.com]

ITC Limited which previously stood for "Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited" [cite web |url = http://www.itcportal.com/the_itc_profile/history_evolution.html | title = History and Evolution of ITC Limited | publisher = ITC Limited | accessdate = 2007-09-23] , is one of India's foremost private sector companies with a market capitalisation of more than US $ 18 billion and a turnover of US $ 4.75 billion. Rated among the World's Best Big Companies by Forbes magazine, ITC ranks third in pre-tax profit among India's private sector corporations.

The company is headed by Yogesh Chander Deveshwar. It employs over 20,000 people at more than 60 locations across India and is listed on Forbes 2000.

List of products and brands

ITC has a diversified presence in
*Cigarettes: "W. D. & H. O. Wills", "Insignia", "India Kings", "Classic", "Gold Flake", "Navy Cut", "Scissors", "Capstan", "Berkeley", "Bristol" and "Flake"
*Hotels: "ITC Welcomgroup chain of Hotels"
*Paperboards & Specialty Papers:"ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited"ITC Tribeni Tissues Division" Now there are four units under one name --> Paper Boards and Specialty Papers Division, Unit - Bhadrachalam, Tribeni, Bollarum and Kovai.
*Agricultural Industry: "Agri-Business", "Leaf Tobacco", "Gold Ribbon", "Blue Ribbon", "Aqua Kings", "Aqua Bay", "Aqua Feast" and "Peninsular"
*Packaged Foods & Confectionery: "Kitchens of India", "Aashirvaad", "Sunfeast", "Mint-O", "Candyman", "Bingo Snacks"
*Branded Apparel: "Wills Lifestyle", "John Players", "Miss Players"
*Personal Care: "Essenza Di Wills", "Fiama Di Wills", "Superia", "Vivel Di Wills", "Vivel"
*Greeting Card: "Expressions"
*Information Technology: "ITC Infotech"
*Safety Matches: "iKno", "Mangal Deep(Discontinued)", "VaxLit(Discontinued)", "Delite(Discontinued)" and "Aim" "Brands acquired from Wimco (Swedish Matches)"
*Incense Sticks: "Mangaldeep", "Spriha"
*Stationery: "Classmate", "Paperkraft", "Saathi"

While ITC continues in its traditional businesses of Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards, Packaging and Agri-Exports, it is gaining market share in its nascent businesses of Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Branded Apparel and Greeting Cards.

ITC's wholly owned Information Technology subsidiary, ITC Infotech India Limited, is pursuing emerging opportunities in providing end-to-end IT solutions, including e-enabled services and business process outsourcing.

Rural Initiatives

ITC's Agri-Business is India's second largest exporter of agricultural products. ITC is one of the India's biggest foreign exchange earners (US $ 2 billion in the last decade). The Company's 'e-Choupal' initiative is enabling Indian agriculture significantly enhance its competitiveness by empowering Indian farmers through the power of the Internet. This transformational strategy, which has already become the subject matter of a case study at Harvard Business School, is expected to progressively create for ITC a huge rural distribution infrastructure, significantly enhancing the Company's marketing reach.

Corporate philanthrophy

ITC Echoupal creatively leverages information technology to set up a meta-market in favour of India's small and poor farmers, who would otherwise continue to operate and transact in 'un-evolved' markets.

As of July 2007, ITC Echoupal services, through 6400 Echoupal across 8 states, reach more than 4 million farmers in about 40,000 villages. ITC intends scaling up the initiative with 20,000 choupals and 700 saagars to reach 10 million farmers in 100,000 villages by 2010.

Free access to Internet is also opening windows of rural India to the world at large. ITC eChoupal [http://www.e-choupal.com e-choupal] is now being regarded as a reliable delivery mechanism for resource development initiatives. Its potential is being tested through pilot projects in healthcare, educational services, water management and cattle health management with the help of several service providers including non-governmental organizations.

Forbes ranking

ITC features on the Forbes Global 2000 rankings for 2007 at position 1256 [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/18/biz_07forbes2000_The-Global-2000-India_10Rank.html The Global 2000 - Forbes.com ] ] .

External links

* [http://www.itcportal.com Official company website]
* [http://www.willslifestyle.com/ Official website of Wills Lifestyle]
* [http://www.johnplayers.com/ Official website of John Players]
* [http://www.missplayers.com/ Official website of Miss Players]
* [http://www.itcinfotech.com/ Official website of ITC Infotech]
* [http://www.kitchensofindia.com/ Official website of Kitchens of India]
* [http://itcindiablog.blogspot.com/ Unofficial ITC Blog]

References