History of ITC Ltd

ITC Ltd was incorporated in 1910 under the name Imperial Tobacco Company of India Ltd. Over time, the company was Indianised and is currently titled 'ITC Ltd,' where 'ITC' is a word in itself and no longer the initials for Imperial Tobacco Company. As the earlier name suggests, it started out as a major tobacco company. In 1975, it ventured into the hospitality business and thereafter started diversifying further into packaged foods, education & stationery products, incense sticks and safety matches, hotels, paperboards and packaging, agribusiness and information technology. The company became a public limited company in 1954. Today, it is a fully professionally managed company, i.e. it does not have any promoters. As of June 2023, LIC holds a stake of around 15.26% in the company.

ITC Business Segments

ITC Ltd has a highly diversified business, comprising the following segments and brands:

1. Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) - This category forms a large part of ITC’s brand as a company that produces products loved by common Indians. It includes the following segments:
   1. Cigars and cigarettes - This is ITC’s core business developed over 100 years, leading to a portfolio of famous brands such as Insignia, India Kings, Classic, Gold Flake, American Club, Wills Navy Cut, Players, Scissors, Capstan, Berkeley, Bristol, Flake, Silk Cut, Duke & Royal. They also launched their own hand-rolled cigar brand named Armenteros.
   2. Packaged Food - This segment includes some of the most famous brands in India, namely Aashirvaad (wheat), Sunfeast (biscuits), Bingo (chips), Sunrise (cooking oil), ITC Master Chef (frozen snacks) etc.
   3. Personal Care - Like food, this segment also boasts some of the famous brands in India such as Vivel, Fiama, Engage, Savlon, etc.
   4. Educational equipment - While the number of brands is less, this segment includes the famous Classmate notebooks.
   5. Agarbatti and matches
2. Hotels - ITC boasts an assortment of premium hotels such as ITC Windsor - Bengaluru, ITC Grand Chola - Chennai, ITC Gardenia - Bengaluru, Welcomhotel Bengaluru, Welcomhotel Guntur, Welcomhotel Chennai, ITC Mughal - Agra, Welcomhotel Coimbatore, Sheraton New Delhi, ITC Grand Central - Mumbai, ITC Maratha - Mumbai and ITC Rajputana - Jaipur. Initially, the hotel business was kept separate from the main company until 2004, when ITC Hotels merged with ITC.
3. Information Technology - ITC Infotech Ltd is a leading IT consultancy company with clients across Banking and Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, Travel and Hospitality, among others.
4. Paperboards and Speciality Papers - This is also one of the earliest businesses that ITC diversified into. It serves a wide array of industry requirements like FMCG cartons, electrical insulation papers, Bio-based barrier-coated boards, food-grade boards, decorative laminate base as well as writing and printing papers, 100% recycled boards and much more.

The company operates in a wide array of business segments with the help of multiple subsidiaries such as ITC Infotech Ltd, Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd (for cigarettes, safety matches, garments, etc.), Landbase India Ltd (for golf and country club), Russell Credit Ltd (for strategic investments), Fortune Park Hotels Ltd and Srinivasa Resorts Ltd, among others.

ITC Team Management

1. Mr Sanjeev Puri, Chairman and MD

Mr. Puri is an alumnus of the IIT Kharagpur and the Wharton School of Business. He has worked at ITC since 1986, serving at various capacities such as the Chief Operating Officer of ITC, President of FMCG Businesses and was also the Divisional Chief Executive of the Tobacco Division.

ITC Corporate Actions

1. Mergers and acquisitions - The following are recent acquisitions done by ITC Ltd:
   1. ITC entered into a Share Purchase Agreement of an undisclosed amount to acquire Sunrise Foods Pvt Ltd in 2020.
   2. In 2015, Russell Credit Ltd, ITC’s subsidiary, acquired the entire equity share capital of ₹4.89 crore of Wills Corporation Ltd (Wills).
   3. In the same year, ITC acquired 87.06% equity of Classic Infrastructure & Development Ltd.
2. Bonus shares - So far, ITC has given out bonus shares thrice, in 2005 at 1:2 ratio, in 2010 at 1:1 ratio and in 2016 at 1:2 ratio.
3. Stock Split - ITC had last split the face value of its shares from ₹10 to ₹1 in 2016.

ITC Financial Highlights

1. ITC Ltd has more than doubled its sales revenue in the period between FY 2012 and FY 2022.
2. In the period between FY 2013 and FY 2023, the company has shown a compounded profit growth of 10%.
3. Its return on equity has been around 25% in the past 10 years between FY 2013-23.
4. The company does not have a stable net cash flow, as it has gone both negative and positive at least twice in FY 2019 to FY 2023.