According to reports from Business Standard, ITC has evolved from a modest outpost on Kolkata's Radha Bazar Lane in 1910 to an Indian conglomerate spanning multiple businesses from Virginia House on Chowringhee. Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Puri, who joined ITC in 1986, explained that before 1991, the company could only pursue businesses with government permission, leading to focus on paperboard, packaging, and hotels. As reported, the pre-liberalisation era featured excessive regulation limiting business freedom and technology access, creating a subscale and non-competitive Indian industry. However, ITC maintained focus on national priorities since its first Indian chairman in 1969. In his latest interview at the company's headquarters in Kolkata, Puri emphasized that despite all difficulties, ITC emerged much stronger after every challenge, highlighting the company's resilience through transformative periods.
As reported by Business Standard, ITC diversified into financial services, international business division, and ITC Agrotech with Sundrop brand during the mid-'80s, though the primary focus remained on agri, hotels, and paperboards. The company accelerated diversification after 1996 when YC Deveshwar became chairman, focusing on areas with enterprise strengths and scaling capabilities. According to Puri, non-cigarettes FMCG growth took 17 years to reach ₹10,000 crore revenues, but grew from ₹10,000 crore to ₹24,000 crore in just nine years up to FY26. The company launched lifestyle retailing in 2000, Aashirvaad atta in 2002, and personal care products in 2005, with growth acceleration coinciding with improved per capita incomes from 2000 to 2025.
According to Business Standard, ITC faced significant challenges transitioning from pre-liberalisation to hyper-competitive global markets, with the business landscape evolving from protected to competitive to hyper-competitive environments. The company maintained its focus on 'responsible competitiveness' and retained the ethos of quality first principles. As reported, ITC invested in the ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre and continues to focus on innovation, technology, and sustainability to strengthen competitiveness. The company also emphasized building entrepreneurial talent, with a large percentage of current leadership being ITC lifers, while maintaining a healthy balance between internal and lateral talent acquisition.
As reported by Business Standard, ITC's current businesses are well-positioned with distinct growth levers across all segments. The company aims to scale up and improve market standing in segments where it hasn't achieved leadership position. According to Puri, sectors like information technology, where ITC is relatively small, have huge potential for growth. Each sector including FMCG, agriculture, hotels, fresh foods, and paperboards has significant headroom for expansion. The company continues to leverage institutional strengths such as agribusiness sourcing capabilities, hotel chef expertise, and distribution networks across all business segments.
