New Delhi: Cigarettes-to-hotels conglomerate ITC Ltd has announced an investment outlay of about ₹20,000 crore in the medium term, citing its confidence in the India story.
At the company’s 113th annual general meeting on Friday, chairman and managing director Sanjiv Puri said despite headwinds, investments made across all its businesses have put ITC in a position to leverage emerging opportunities. “Our confidence in the India story is unwavering and is reflected in ITC’s investment outlay of about ₹20,000 crores in the medium term,” Puri said in his AGM speech. More details on the investment are awaited.
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Cigarettes, hotels bounce back
ITC reported gross revenue of ₹69,446 crore in FY24 and a profit of ₹20,422 crore. Non-cigarette revenue now accounts for about 65% of net revenue.
“The revenue of the cigarettes business grew at a CAGR of nearly 13.5% over the last two years, with volumes surpassing pre-pandemic levels. After a period of sustained headwinds, the hotels business emerged structurally stronger clocking revenue of nearly ₹3,000 crore and Ebitda crossing ₹1,000 crore in FY24,” Puri said.
The value added by ITC’s activities over the past four years aggregates to around ₹24.2 trillion of which over ₹16.1 trillion accrued to the exchequer, Puri said. Last year the company announced the demerger of its hotels business into a separate entity.
Puri also said the growing competitiveness of ITC’s brands has allowed the company to take its products and services to more than 100 global markets. “Foreign exchange earnings of the company and its subsidiaries have more than doubled since FY20 to over ₹9,500 crore. The company is also proactively pursuing strategic investments, particularly in neighbouring markets, such as the FMCG facility set up by a subsidiary, Surya Nepal Private Limited.” He added ITC Hotels will continue to explore opportunities, with a focus on proximal markets, as part of its asset-light strategy.
On Friday, ITC shares were trading at ₹492.35 on BSE the time of publishing, up 0.52%.