In a post-pandemic world, demand for certain categories, like health and hygiene and packaged food, would remain at an elevated level, and ITC would be prepared to cater to that demand, said Sanjiv Puri, chairman and managing director, ITC on September 7.
"In the new normal, we are seeing a surge in certain categories. When the pandemic gets over, certain categories will settle at an elevated level. When I say elevated level, it is in comparison to pandemic situation, but may not have the surge seen during the pandemic. So health and hygiene could be one such category, but the awareness and importance of simple things like hand washing and cleanliness would definitely go up," said Puri at a virtual press interaction.
He said the need to clean fruits and vegetables has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic and with the availability of scientific solutions like ITC Nimwash, the demand for such things would increase going forward.
"Maybe sanitisers won't be at a level as today, but it will certainly be at an elevated level going forward. We also have to prepare now for the next normal... That's were the adaptability, creativity and resilience of the enterprises would be tested," Puri said.
He said as far as capacity is concerned, ITC has expanded its capacity way beyond its buffer capacity. "Our handwash, for example, is five to six times of what we were producing earlier. Capacity expansion has happened in house by commissioning some additional facilities... We have the infrastructure. What we need to do is we need to add machines over a period of time," Puri said.
Manufacture of ITC’s hygiene products like Savlon sanitisers was ramped up by 275 times to cater to the surge in demand. ITC ramped up production capacity and resumed distribution in record time, with focus on safety protocols. Over 180 factories manufacturing essential products in foods, personal care and hygiene as well as paperboards and packaging were progressively made operational.
More than 85 percent of ITC’s associated warehouses were made operational within 10 days of the lockdown.
ITC's gross revenue and PBT (before exceptional items) for FY20 stood at around Rs 46,300 crore and Rs 19,300 crore, respectively. Non-cigarette segment revenue rose to Rs 31,000 crore during the year, accounting for nearly 60 percent of ITC’s total segment revenue.
ITC’s FMCG brands clocked an annual consumer spend of over Rs 19,700 crore in aggregate during the year. Segment EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) recorded a robust growth of 33 percent during the year.
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