ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri Announces Firm's Rs 20,000 Crore Capex Plan, Big International Goal

Conglomerate ITC's Chairman Sanjiv Puri announced company's ambitious capex plan for the next five years at its annual general meeting (AGM). As per the announcement, ITC will invest over Rs 20,000 crore.

Speaking to reporters post the conclusion of the AGM, Puri expressed confidence in India's growth story and hailed the policies announced in the Union Budget 2024. He said, "We remain quite optimistic about the opportunities available in India. Positive steps are being taken to bolster India's growth story which was impressive in last financial year with over 8 per cent growth."

To better leverage the opportunity, the company has planned several investments in the next few years. Around 35 to 40 per cent of investments will be in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment while 30 to 35 per cent will go to expansion in paperboards and packaging space. The balance will be invested in agriculture and other business activities.

"Investments in the FMCG segment will go into enhancing machinery and improving quality of products," Puri explained.

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Apart from the focus in India, ITC also aims to go big in the international market to increase reach of its products and services. He said, "The international business will be expanded in phases. In the first phase, we have put distribution networks in several international markets and have seen positive results in some pockets. We aim to export to around 70-80 countries."

Puri said that the company is already exporting some of its legacy products in African markets. However, in the initial phases of the international expansion, the focus is going to be on proximate markets. The company has set up an FMCG facility in Nepal through a subsidiary. It also launched ITC Ratnadipa in Sri Lanka.

On its hospitality side, the company aims to increase number of hotels to 200 from around 140 currently. ITC opened 32 hotels in the last 24 months, Puri informed. He added, "The demerger of the hotels business is on track. We gave a timeline of 15-18 months for listing which would be around the end of the year. Barring some small regulatory delays, the schedule remains intact."

For the unversed, ITC announced the demerger of its hotels business in July last year. In financial year 2024, the conglomerate recorded a growth in consolidated revenue from operations of 0.4 per cent at Rs 76,840 crore. Its net profit rose 6.6 per cent to end the last fiscal at Rs 20,751 crore.

It will announce the result for its first quarter of this fiscal on August 1.