- Business
- ITC Limited, a diversified Indian conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, and founded in 1910, operates across fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), paperboards and specialty papers, packaging, agri-business, and information technology segments; it generates a plurality of revenue from tobacco products including cigarettes and cigars under brands such as Gold Flake and Classic. The company offers an extensive FMCG portfolio encompassing foods like staples, spices (ITC MasterChef), biscuits (Sunfeast), confectionery (Candyman, minto), snacks (Bingo!), noodles (Yippee!), ready-to-eat meals (Kitchens of India), dairy (Aashirvaad Svasti), beverages (B Natural), frozen foods, and chocolates (Fabelle); personal care products under Fiama, Vivel, Savlon, Shower to Shower, Engage, and Dermafique brands; education and stationery such as Classmate notebooks, pens, and Paperkraft; safety matches (Homelites, Aim); incense sticks (Mangaldeep); and handrolled cigars (Armenteros). In paperboards and specialty papers, ITC produces high-quality boards for packaging industries; its packaging and printing division provides eco-friendly solutions for FMCG, pharmaceuticals, and food sectors; the agri-business division engages in commodity trading of wheat, rice, coffee, soy, and seafood exports, supported by the e-Choupal network benefiting millions of farmers; and ITC Infotech delivers IT services including software development, digital transformation, and consulting in banking, manufacturing, and healthcare. ITC maintains operations across India at over 60 locations with exports to nearly 90 countries, and key subsidiaries include ITC Infotech India Limited, Surya Nepal Private Limited (cigarettes and FMCG in Nepal), Russell Credit Limited (investments), Technico Pty Limited (agri-biotech), ITC Filtrona Limited (filters), and Gold Flake Corporation Limited (tobacco trading). Recent major changes include the demerger of its hotels business into ITC Hotels Limited effective January 1, 2025, retaining a continuing interest while enabling focused growth in hospitality with brands like ITC Hotels, Welcomhotel, Storii, Fortune, and Mementos, alongside international expansion such as ITC Ratnadipa in Sri Lanka; strategic acquisitions in 2025 comprising 100% of Sresta Natural Bioproducts Private Limited and the remaining stake in Mother Sparsh Baby Care Private Limited for baby care expansion, 43.75% in Ample Foods Private Limited (including Chao Chao Foods and Meat and Spice) for frozen and ready-to-cook foods, and the pulp and paper undertaking of Century Pulp and Paper from Aditya Birla Real Estate on a slump sale basis; and increased stakes in EIH (Oberoi Group) to 16.13% and HLV (Leela Mumbai) to 8.11% via Russell Credit.