Bengaluru: Cigarettes-to-hotels conglomerate ITC unveiled an investment plan of Rs 20,000 crore over the medium term across businesses, which the company said underscored its confidence in India’s economic growth.
“Our confidence in the India story is unwavering and is reflected in the company’s investment outlay of about Rs 20,000 crore in the medium term,” said Sanjiv Puri, chairman and managing director of the consumer goods maker, on Friday at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM). However, he did not elaborate on the investment plans.
ITC, a giant in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space, reported a gross revenue of Rs 69,446 crores and net profit of Rs 20,422 crores in the fiscal year 2024. Its non-cigarette segment accounted for about 65% of net revenue, as per the numbers released by the company at the AGM.
On Friday, ITC shares closed 2.61% up on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
“Over the past 4 years, overall revenues grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8% to about Rs.79,000 crores. Non-cigarette revenues grew at a CAGR of 11.6%. Segment earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) posted an impressive growth of 17.9%,” added Puri.
ITC’s hotels and cigarettes business segment have bounced back after the downturn due to pandemic, Puri said.
“The revenue and results of the cigarettes business over the last 2 years grew at a CAGR of nearly 13.5% with volumes surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The hotels business emerged structurally stronger clocking a revenue of nearly Rs 3,000 crores and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) crossing Rs 1,000 crore mark in FY24,” said Puri.
He also said that ITC and its subsidiaries’ foreign exchange has more than doubled since fiscal year 2020 to over Rs 9,500 crores. It is also pursuing ‘strategic investments’ in neighbouring markets.
Puri spoke about India's favourable demography which acts as an advantage for growing employment opportunities. "More than a billion people, comprising nearly 70% of the population, will be of working age by 2030. Over the next decade, almost a quarter of the incremental global workforce will be from India," he added.
During the AGM he spoke about the emerging trends of micro-tourism, immersive experiences and multiple short vacations which have added new dimensions to the tourism industry after a pushback from covid.
“ITC has made significant investments in building skilled hospitality talent through 6 focussed programmes. Luxury is well poised to leverage the emerging opportunities,” said Puri.