YC Deveshwar pegs target for ITC at Rs1-lakh crore by 2030

Kolkata: YC Deveshwar, the Executive Chairman & CEO of ITC, in his last AGM speech, says the company has a Rs 1-lakh crore FMCG goal by 2030. YC Deveshwar took reins of ITC in 1995 led the turnover from Rs2,386.1 crore to Rs39,066.9 crore in 2016. Deveshwar has built major brands during his tenure at ITC.

The list of brands includes Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Bingo and Classmate. It’s estimated that Aashirvaad contributes Rs3,000crore, Sunfeast Rs2,500 crore, Bingo Rs1,000crore and Classmate adds Rs1,000 crore to the turnover of ITC.

Deveshwar spoke for the last time at ITC’s annual general meeting in his capacity as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, here on Friday at Kolkata’s Science City Auditorium.

Deveshwar spoke for the last time at ITC’s annual general meeting in his capacity as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, here on Friday at Kolkata’s Science City Auditorium. He mentioned words such as India First, Indianness, foreign subjugation several times in his speech. In his speech, Deveshwar also spoke about the challenging times that ITC had gone through. The spirit that helped him carve out a company with revenues in excess of Rs 51,000 crore, a 10-fold increase in the last two decades.

Sharing the motto that helped him build ITC from its tattered reputation when he was placed at its helm, Deveshwar said it was nothing but India First — keeping country before corporation and the institution before individual. “I must confess that a deep sense of patriotism has driven me to traverse many an untrodden path in leading ITC’s aspiration to be such a national champion,” Deveshwar said.

Deveshwar has termed ITC as India’s Trademarks Corporation. He further said India must assume the fervour of a national movement and product development in the personal care arena should be inspired from research focusing on Indianness.

The patriotic spirit seemed to have a rub-off effect on shareholders who were present in large numbers.

Speaking on the ‘foreign subjugation,’ Deveshwar said: “Unfortunately you were under foreign subjugation for a long time and most of the brands in India were of foreign origin. About Rs 50-60,000 crore goes out in terms of royalties. Indian brands are extremely important.”

From what Deveshwar said, it seemed that competition from Indian brands was more than welcome even as ITC has a Rs 1 lakh crore fast-moving consumer goods goal by 2030. “Somebody (shareholder) offered a comment on Patanjali. I am very proud that Patanjali has created Indian brands. Competition is good for the consumer. We must salute success in Indian brands. People ask me, you’re entering the dairy business but what about Amul? I respect Amul, it’s an Indian brand,” he said.