ITC completes 100 years
August 25, 2010
ITC completed a 100
years on the 24th of August, 2010. A glorious
moment in its history, the occasion was marked by
celebrations across all its offices and facilities
in India, with Company flag-hoisting ceremonies to
commemorate and pay homage to the spirit of the
institution.
At a special Centenary event, in Kolkata, Chairman
Mr. Y C Deveshwar, addressing a 29,000 strong
audience of employees across the country through a
webcast, said that: "Innovation should be a
source for creating consumer delight as well as
triple bottom line performance so as to generate
greater value for the shareholder and the society. Value creation for the Indian society is best
achieved by creating sustainable livelihoods and
replenishing natural capital. "Emphasising on the
need for competitive vitality, Chairman Mr
Deveshwar underscored the need to leverage
knowledge resident across diverse businesses in
its world class human resources to create "Champion Teams" that would continuously innovate
to deliver competitively superior customer value.
He reiterated his firm belief that the unique amalgam of ITC's Vision, Values and Vitality has
ensured that the Company is 'Future-ready'.
The event also included the felicitation of the
winners of the 'Voice of ITC' contest a
one-of-its-kind internal talent contest, that saw
more than a 1000 entries, out of which the final
15 were shortlisted to record the ITC Anthem. The
ITC anthem, 'Kal ki Oaur', formally released on
this occasion, expresses ITC's abiding commitment
to growth, transformation and development as it
steps into the next century.
As part of the ITC centenary initiative, the
Classmate 'Ideas for India Challenge' was also
launched. Engaging the youth of the country, the
nation wide programme invites ideas which have the
potential to transform their India of tomorrow. The Classmate ideas for India challenge will reach
out to 25 lakh students across 30 cities, 500
schools and 200 colleges.
A unique internal contest, 'Think Next' was
launched on the occasion of ITC's centenary. This
enterprise-wide competition is aimed at fostering
innovation as a key driver for growth and a
differentiator to remain competitively superior in
the global marketplace. The contest would unfold
over the following months and reward the most
innovative ideas from among ITC's employees,
touching upon diverse areas like systems, product
development, knowledge management and other key
processes.
ITC's employees also signed the ITC Pledge - an
oath of duty and dedication that reaffirms their
commitment to the organisation and its core values
and beliefs.
The ITC story is a journey of transformation from
a single product company to a well-diversified
business conglomerate with interests in Fast
Moving Consumer Goods, Hotels, Paperboards &
Packaging, Agri-business and Information
Technology, with a market capitalization of over
Rs 100,000 crores and a Profit after Tax of over
Rs 4000 crore. This long and inspirational journey
of challenge and change has unfolded in tandem
with India's own evolution and growth across ten
decades. It has been the journey of an
organization that has consciously put Country
before Corporation - an enterprise that proudly
echoes the credo "Lets Put India First". It has
been a journey of leadership, not only in
shareholder value creation, but also in serving
all stakeholders and in meeting societal
expectations. It has been a voyage that has
brought ITC global recognition as an exemplar in
sustainability practices - the only company in the
world of its size to be carbon positive, water
positive and solid waste recycling positive. This
long and eventful travel across a century has been
particularly meaningful and satisfying because it
has enabled ITC to create over 5 million
sustainable livelihoods.
