Cigarettes-to-hotels major Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited diversified their tobacco business to produce and export nicotine and nicotine-derivative products to meet the growing demand for oral and vaping products in the US and European Union markets. FY21's annual company report states that it has invested ₹ 50 crores, with effect from March 31, 2021 and established a fully owned company, IndiVision, which obtained the necessary permits for setting up a facility near Mysuru, Karnataka. The facility, which will produce nicotine and nicotine salts, will comply with the strict US (United States) and EU (European Union) pharmacopoeia standards that define purity levels of 99.2 percent of nicotine specified for pharmaceutical products. The market for a nicotine-based consumer product is estimated at $ 5 billion worldwide, according to industry estimates. ITC’s tobacco business saw a disruption throughout the value chain with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company stated in its annual report that by reducing restrictions and improving mobility from September 2020 onwards, the business continued to move forward in the remainder of the year to reach pre-Covid levels by the end of the year. Tobacco, however, was not ITC’s only business which affected by the covid pandemic. Like the entire hospitality industry, the ITC hotel business, too, was affected. The second wave has created new barriers and the company believes that the short-term vision of the hospitality industry will depend heavily on the return of confidence in business and leisure travel. However, new initiatives are made by the company to create growth. As people crave a leisure trip, ITC has introduced a new brand, "The Storii" which is a collection of boutique lifestyle properties that will offer a unique travel experience; while the major part of the incremental room additions in the business are likely to be management contracts. Storii expects to open their first set of hotels soon when the Welcomhotel portfolio will grow in line with the "asset rights" strategy. The non-cigarette FMCG business grew by 15.8 percent on FY21 and recorded a revenue of 14,728.21 crores, that is a YoY increase of 14.7 percent. The annual consumer spending from non-cigarettes FMCG on FY21 was more than Rs 22,000 crore compared to Rs 19,700 crore on FY20. The company introduced a record number of 120 products during the year. Exports through branded packaged food businesses record growth led by biscuits, atta and ready-to-eat food despite the disruption caused by the pandemic. The business is currently exporting to more than 50 countries. The company also released the e-commerce platform E-Choupal 4.0 during the pandemic which doubled its sales during the year to more than 5 percent of its revenue. The company has currently filed a Rs 100 crore defamation lawsuit against portfolio manager and blogger Manu Rishi Guptha who is the CEO of investment advisory firm MRG Capital Partners along with Editor-in-Chief Dhruv Girdhar and Managing Editor Ghanist Nagpal of financial blog site FinMedium for posting on social media that ITC’s board of directors and management routinely indulged in insider trading, the company has been misleading shareholders, that the board had been taking senseless business decisions and that the company has been fudging its book of accounts. Thank you.
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