ITC to invest Rs 15000 cr in five yrs to expand business

Kolkata, Jul 21 (UNI) Diversified business giant ITC Ltd today said it will invest up to Rs 15,000 crore in the next five years to expand its hotel, paperboards, agri and FMCG businesses.

''We are planning to grow the hotel business by setting up three hotels in Bangalore and one in Chennai. We are also looking at a hotel in every state capital,'' ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar told reporters after the annual general meeting here.

Shortage of land at appropriate locations is a cause of concern and the growth would be dependent on the access to land at the right price, he said.

ITC is also planning expand its paperboards business and the company is planning to set up a greenfield project at a cost of around Rs 2,500 crore.

''We are in talks with three state governments for setting up the project. The investment decision will depend on access to water, low cost energy and access to fibre, the raw material for the product,'' he added.

''We will also diversify into paper production and around Rs 1000 crore will be invested in the venture in the next three years,'' Mr Deveshwar said.

He said a major share is likely to be earmarked for growth of the company's agri-business model of e-choupal (Internet kiosk) network.

Nearly Rs 5,000 crore would be invested to increase the e-choupal infrastructure to more than 6,000 installations covering one lakh villages and 3.5 million farmers.

Digital infrastructure for e-choupal is being supplemented with a phased roll out of the Choupal-Saagars, which are basically designed as village supermarkets to serve as a hub for a cluster of villages, he added.

Mr Deveshwar hinted that the e-choupal concept may be taken to the urban areas in future.

Speaking about the company's investment plans in West Bengal, Mr Deveshwar said ITC has planned to invest around Rs 1000 crore for developing the line of operations at its existing cigarette factory , setting up a cash carry initiative in the horticulture sector, a logistic management hub, expansing its hotel in Kolkata and other IT initiatives.

Out of this around Rs 350 crore would be spent for developing the cigarette factory in the state.

''We had asked for around 100 acres of land for horticulture research and the state government has assured to give around 50 acres of land by setting up a horticulture research,'' he said adding that the logistic hub would be built in 25 acres of land.

The company is also planning to set up a food factory in the state, he said adding that the company would expand its existing hotel at Kolkata with 300 additional rooms by investing around Rs 500 crore in the next three years in the 16 acres of adjacent land the company owns.

ITC today also announced a 25.7 per cent growth in net turnnover and 16.8per cent growth in net profit for first quarter of curent fiscal.

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