YC Deveshwar bets on tobacco biz for ITC shareholders' good

Setting an ambitious target of Rs 1 lakh crore revenue for ITC as India’s top FMCG player by 2030, its outgoing chief executive YC Deveshwar said growth of tobacco business will continue to be good for shareholders of the diversified group.
According to a PTI report: He rejected suggestions that the non-tobacco businesses of the group should be made to grow faster than the tobacco business, but rued that ITC’s investment plans were getting delayed due to a long time required for getting approvals.
Addressing the shareholders of ITC at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the last time in his joint capacity as Chairman and CEO, 69-year-old Deveshwar said the strategy to pursue multiple drivers of growth has led to a 17-fold growth in the company’s non-cigarette businesses since 1996, registering a net segment revenue of Rs 23,000 crore.
“Compared to the size of ITC in 1996, the non-cigarette businesses alone represent a size akin to creating 5 ITCs of that time,” Deveshwar was quoted by PTI as saying. He has been heading the company for almost two decades.
Deveshwar joined ITC in 1968 and assumed office as its Executive Chairman in January 1996.
READ MORE: ITC sets revenue target of Rs 1,00,000 crore by 2030
During the April-June quarter, ITC’s revenue from cigarettes increased 6.42 per cent to Rs 8,230.60 crore from Rs 7,733.43 crore in the year-ago period.
He, however, was quoted by PTI as saying, “Some shareholders are saying growth of the tobacco business should be less while that of others (non-tobacco) should rise (but) that is not the objective”.
Deveshwar, who will relinquish his executive roles in February and would become a non-executive chairman, was quoted by PTI as saying, “We are not competing within the company”.
“The growth of the tobacco business will be good for the shareholders of the company,” he was quoted by PTI as saying.
The tobacco business is increasingly coming under prohibition by various government regulations but continue to be the prime revenue driver.
READ MORE: ITC shakes off sluggishness, reports 10 pc profit at Rs 2,385 cr