2026.03.26
ITC Limited, one of India's largest conglomerates, has rapidly expanded its FMCG food business using the enormous cash flow from cigarettes. Several brands, including Aashirvaad (flour), Sunfeast (biscuits), Bingo! (snacks), and YiPPee! (instant noodles), have passed ₹1,000 crore (10 billion rupees, about 17.4 billion yen) in annual consumer spending.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Year founded | 1910 |
| Headquarters | Kolkata (West Bengal) |
| Chairman and MD | Sanjiv Puri |
| Consolidated revenue | ₹78,868 crore (FY2026 = fiscal year ending March 2026; about 1.37 trillion yen) |
| Employees | About 36,000 |
| Listing | Listed on the BSE and NSE |
| Main brands | Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Bingo!, Yippee!, Classmate, Fiama |
ITC Limited's strength lies in diversified management. It runs six segments, cigarettes, FMCG, hotels, paperboard, IT, and agriculture, and the high margins of the cigarette business support aggressive investment in FMCG food. Revenue in FMCG excluding cigarettes (the FMCG-Others segment) reached ₹24,210 crore in FY2026. Aashirvaad in flour and Sunfeast in biscuits are the two pillars. On the agriculture side there is e-Choupal, but that is a system for providing information to farmers and sourcing raw materials, and it is worth keeping in mind that it is separate from the distribution network that delivers consumer goods to retail stores.
In January 2025 the hotel business was separated and listed as ITC Hotels. Consolidated revenue for FY2026 was ₹78,868 crore, and annual consumer spending on FMCG excluding cigarettes exceeded ₹37,000 crore. Yoga Bar, the healthy snack brand operated by Sproutlife Foods, became a subsidiary of ITC on April 1, 2026, because ITC gained the right to nominate a majority of the directors even though its stake is about 47.5% on a diluted basis (the policy of acquiring 100% itself has been stated since the announcement in 2023).
ITC is a strong candidate partner for Japanese food manufacturers. Its distribution network covering all of India could solve the biggest challenge Japanese companies face when entering the Indian market. ITC's agricultural supply chain e-Choupal also has high potential for linking with Japanese agricultural technology. In the instant noodle category it competes with companies such as Nissin Foods.
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