India's largest cigarette maker ITC Ltd which is also a leading agri commodities player shared with NTDV how it plans to counter drop in sugar, rice and paddy production. The company now looks up to the impending Rabi crop to further boost its bottomline.
“ITC's presence across value chain has helped spread risk. It is a rationalised effect. The Rabi crop will definitely improve things but we can't get back what we lost in khariff crops,” said ITC Agri Business Division chief executive, S Sivakumar.
ITC is also a leading player in the $30 billion Indian food processing industry. While the company has been aggressive in its growth in the food processing chain, rise in raw material cost has also had a large impact on its results.
“Price increase in sugar has impacted to a large extent; all round increase in prices due to shortfall of production has had a significant impact on the raw material cost,” said Sivakumar.
ITC's agri-business was established in 1990 to procure agricultural produce directly from the farmers and sell them. The division has since grown to contribute more than Rs 4000 crore or 20 per cent of the total revenue of ITC.