ITC Boss Meets CM, Assures of 3,000-Cr Investment Plan - The Economic Times
December 12, 2012
ITC Ltd Chairman YC Deveshwar on Tuesday met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to reaffirm the city-based consumer goods-hospitality major's Rs. 3,000-crore investment plans in the state.
A senior ITC official described the 30-minute meeting as a courtesy call since Deveshwar will not be able to attend the proposed closed-door meeting with leading industrialists called by the chief minister in New Delhi on December 17.
Deveshwar' s meeting with the chief minister also coincides with ITC's corporate governance and management committee meetings. Talking to reporters after the meeting at Writers Buildings, Deveshwar said ITC is fully committed to its Rs. 3,000 crore investment plan in West Bengal and the chief minister has assured all her support. ITC' s proposed projects in the state includes a greenfield integrated consumer goods plant at Howrah where it already has 18 acres and getting another 39 acres which was stuck in litigation and now resolved. The plant was meant for manufacturing packaged food, but now it has been decided that it will also take up production of personal care products.
The company, which is the second-largest hotel chain in India, is also setting up a hotel in Kolkata, and plans to expand its existing factories in the state which are engaged in manufacturing of paper and cigarettes. ITC also had plans to set-up a software development centre in the city for which it wanted 30 acres more than eight years back. However, it is yet to get any land allotted for the project.
The chief minister has assured that all issues with the software project will be resolved at the earliest, the senior company official said. In July, Deveshwar had announced at ITCs 101st annual general meeting that the company wants to accelerate its Rs. 25,000-crore expansion to be completed over the next 5-7 years. He had said the company was implementing over 40 projects in various stages across the country.
