PROJECT

ON
“CSR ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED BY ITC LTD.”

By

Sonu Kumar
Roll: 51
Session: 2017-19
Under the guidance of
Dr. Pooja

XAVIER INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SERVICE,

DR. CAMIL BULCKE PATH, RANCHI
Business in which ITC Ltd is into
ITC is an Indian public conglomerate company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Its
diversified business includes four segments: Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Hotels,
Paperboards, Paper & Packaging and Agri-Business. ITC's annual turnover stood at $7 billion and
market capitalization of over $33 billion. The company has its registered office in Kolkata. It
started off as the Imperial Tobacco Company, and shares ancestry with Imperial Tobacco of the
United Kingdom, but it is now fully independent, and was rechristened to India Tobacco Company
in 1970 and then to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. ITC is rated among the World's Best Big Companies,
Asia's 'Fab 50' and the World's Most Reputable Companies by Forbes magazine and among India's
Most Valuable Companies by Business Today. ITC ranks among India's '10 Most Valuable
(Company) Brands', in a study conducted by Brand Finance and published by the Economic Times.
ITC also ranks among Asia's 50 best performing companies compiled by Business Week. ITC has
a diversified presence in FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty
Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business and Information Technology. While ITC is an outstanding
market leader in its traditional businesses of Hotels, Paperboards, Packaging, Agri-Exports and
Cigarettes, it is rapidly gaining market share even in its nascent businesses of Packaged Foods &
Confectionery, Branded Apparel, Personal Care and Stationery. ITC is one of India's foremost
private sector as one of India's most valuable and respected corporations, ITC is widely perceived
to be dedicatedly nation-oriented.
ITC believes that its aspiration to create enduring value for the nation provides the motive force to
sustain growing shareholder value. ITC practices this philosophy by not only driving each of its
businesses towards international competitiveness but by also consciously contributing to
enhancing the competitiveness of the larger value chain of which it is a part. ITC's diversified
status originates from its corporate strategy aimed at creating multiple drivers of growth anchored
on its time-tested core competencies: unmatched distribution reach, superior brand-building
capabilities, effective supply chain management and acknowledged service skills in hoteling. Over
time, the strategic forays into new businesses are expected to garner a significant share of these
emerging high-growth markets in India. ITC's Agri-Business is one of India's largest exporters of
agricultural products. The ITC group's contribution to foreign exchange earnings over the last ten
years amounted to nearly US$ 4.9 billion, of which agri-exports constituted 56%. The Company's
'e-Choupal' initiative is enabling Indian agriculture significantly enhance its competitiveness by
empowering Indian farmers through the power of the Internet. This transformational strategy,
which has already become the subject matter of a case study at Harvard Business School, is
expected to progressively create for ITC a huge rural distribution infrastructure, significantly
enhancing the Company's marketing reach. ITC's wholly owned Information Technology
subsidiary, ITC Infotech India Ltd, provides IT services and solutions to leading global customers.
ITC Infotech has carved a niche for itself by addressing customer challenges through innovative
IT solutions. ITC's production facilities and hotels have won numerous national and international
awards for quality, productivity, safety and environment management systems. ITC was the first
company in India to voluntarily seek a corporate governance rating. ITC employs over 26,000
people at more than 60 locations across India. The Company continuously endeavors to enhance
its wealth generating capabilities in a globalizing environment to consistently reward more than 4,
08, 000 shareholders, fulfill the aspirations of its stakeholders and meet societal expectations.
History ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name Imperial Tobacco Company of
India Limited. As the Company's ownership progressively Indianite, the name of the Company
was changed from Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited to India Tobacco Company
Limited in 1970 and then to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. In recognition of the Company's multi-business
portfolio encompassing a wide range of businesses - Fast Moving Consumer Goods comprising
Foods, Personal Care, Cigarettes and Cigars, Branded Apparel, Education and Stationery Products,
Incense Sticks and Safety Matches, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-
Business and Information Technology. The Company now stands rechristened ITC Limited.

Rank of ITC Ltd. with regards to CSR

ITC Ltd. ranks 8th in India with regards to Sustainability and CSR in the year 2018.
Data source: https://www.futurescape.in/responsible-business-rankings/

Recent CSR activities that are being carried out by ITC Ltd.
Project district Challenges Identified ITC Responses
Kamrup (Assam)  The area is flood- 3 interventions were rolled
prone causing water out in the current year:
logging.  Diversification of
 80% households are livelihood portfolio
small and marginal through promotion of
farmers practicing Sustainable
rain-fed agriculture. Agricultural practices
 Dominance of for small & marginal
subsistence farmers.
agriculture and poor  Economic
productivity of land. empowerment of the
 Cattle productivity ultra-poor women.
low, thus weakening  Vocational training of
the income from off youth on market
farm livelihood relevant skills. Going
source. forward, initiatives on
 50% children are out education, aimed at
of school. improving learning
 Widespread open levels of children and
defecation prevalent. sanitation program
like School WASH
will be introduced in
the location.
 Medak (Telangana)
Pudukkottai (Tamil Nadu)
 The area is peri-urban  Given these findings,
and stands well in no major interventions
terms of various are being proposed for
Human Development Medak except,
Indices (HDI). perhaps strengthening
 The mandal has been of Anganwadis in
declared Open collaboration with
Defecation Free ICDS, since they were
(ODF). found to be weak.
 Over 73% of the
youth are either
employed or studying.
 50% of the children
attend private schools.
 Dependence on
agriculture is not
crucial since most
households seem to
have sources of off-
farm incomes.
 The area is drought As evident from the need
prone. assessment exercise and
 Open defecation is finalization of the priority
prevalent. matrix, Pudukkottai ranks
 Unavailability of low in terms of socio-
piped drinking water. economic
 Lack of primary severity/vulnerability. Hence
health facilities. no plans of CSR programs
taken up for implementation
in the location.

Does company’s approach towards CSR influences customer’s purchase

decision?
No the company’s approach to CSR does not influences my or other’s purchase decision.
Bringing corporate social responsibility into the public consciousness is actually one of the few
good things that millennials have been credited with doing. And the numbers appear to be
overwhelming. According to a 2017 Horizon Media survey, 81% of millennials expect companies
to publicly pledge to be good corporate citizens. Reason Digital’s CSR survey was even more
bullish: it found that 96% of those surveyed agreed good social and environmental policies were
important.
The average consumer still isn’t putting his/her money where his/her mouth is. That same Reason
Digital survey found that although respondents highly valued CSR, their behaviors did not match
up with their stated viewpoints. Related surveys have found that only 5% of consumers actually
consider a company’s ethics above all else when shopping around to buy something.
It’s a well-documented fact in consumer polling that attitudes don’t always match up with
behaviors. Social desirability bias can wreak havoc with sampling, and cause “socially desirable”
(or in this case, progressive) answers to be over-represented in poll responses.
There are tons of reasons for people to espouse pro-CSR beliefs in public, but not practice them in
their private lives. For many people, price and convenience rightly trump all other considerations.
For these folks, social responsibility might be important, but it’s not the most important. Not by a
long shot.
Corporate social responsibility also can’t be taken at face value, and consumers are starting to
realize this. For every noble charitable effort by a well-meaning company, there’s a behemoth
corporation like the NFL trying to whitewash its image by setting up a sham foundation or charity
drive. Corporate social responsibility is now the it-girl of the marketing world which is leading to
a lot of unsavory imitators in the space.
It’s also getting harder to remember who is even a good corporate citizen. The internet created the
conditions for monitoring CSR by letting journalists cover “corporate crises” and ethical failures
more easily, but the Twitter outrage machine might be starting to shoot itself in the foot here.