ITC to enter milk products segment, says Deveshwar

Tobacco giant ITC on Friday said it is looking to enter the dairy products category, one of the few packaged food categories in which it is not yet present.

“We want to eventually enter the milk product market in India, we are looking to nurture the dairy products categories,” said ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar.

ITC will spend about Rs 25,000 crore over the next 5-7 years, and has 40 projects under execution nationally, Deveshwar said.

The dairy products market in India is serviced mainly by unorganised retailers, but the packaged dairy products section is dominated by brand such as Amul, Britannia, Nestle, and Sagar. 

Kolkata-base ITC derives most of its revenues from cigarettes but has over the past two decades moved into other fast-moving consumer goods categories, such as packaged foods and stationery through brands such as Bingo and Sunfeast in foods, and Classmate and Sundaram in stationery and education. It also has a large presence in the hotels business, and a smaller market share in apparel retail and personal care products.

On Thursday, ITC reported net profit of Rs 1,602 crore in the quarter ended June 30, from Rs 1,333 crore a year earlier, after the company boosted cigarette prices in April. Analysts had expected a 23 per cent rise in earnings, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.

ITC is India's fifth-largest company by market capitalization. generates about half its revenue from cigarettes, whose sales volume in the June quarter fell about 2.5-3 per cent sequentially.

“Investor sentiment has to be improved,” Deveshwar said on Friday.