Brand Storytelling: ITC

The agriculture industry is one of the most pertinent sectors of growth in India, making the farmers the backbone of our economy. Having said that, however, the condition of farmers is critical today. From suicides, to crop failures, to climate change and unsatisfied prices- they face a myriad of problems which disables them to survive in this fast-moving world. One of the only companies, in our country, which has addressed this problem with a sustainable successful business plan and not a marketing gimmick is ITC. ITC’s story teaches us how a legacy company with majority of its profits coming from cigarettes built a robust system which disrupted the relatively untouched Indian agricultural market.

ITC Ltd is one of India's top private sector companies. With operations covering Fast Moving Consumer Goods, comprising Foods, Personal Care, Agro Business, Information Technology, etc., it diversified the nation after being founded in the year 1910. Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited served as the company's legal name when it was founded on August 24, 1910. In 1970, the company was renamed to India Tobacco Company Limited, and then to I.T.C. Limited in 1974 as the ownership of the Company became increasingly Indian. The full stops in the company's name were eliminated with effect from September 18, 2001, in acknowledgement of the ITC's multi-business portfolio, which includes a wide range of businesses. The company is now known as "ITC Limited," where "ITC" is no longer an initialized form or an abbreviation. Even though the Company's first six decades of existence were primarily focused on the expansion and consolidation of the Cigarettes and Leaf Tobacco businesses, diversification followed, and in 1990, ITC established the Agri Business Division for export of agri-commodities by leveraging its agri-sourcing competency. Currently, this division is among India's top exporters.

Today, ITC's e-Choupal, through which it collaborates with over 4 million farmers, is the cornerstone of its agribusiness. It has turned e-Choupal into a digital platform-play to help with its transition to value-added products. Farmers have access to information on weather forecasts, remote sensing for pest surveillance, agronomy guidance, and output market linkage in addition to finding prices of agri-products digitally (without having to meet in person). We have seen the company expanding itself in a more sustainable way unlike the high dependence it previously placed on the sales of cigars and cigarettes.