ITC’s Non-cigarette FMCG business comprising branded packaged foods, lifestyle retailing, greetings, gift and stationery and safety matches and Incense sticks, grew by nearly 80 percent in 2005-06 over the previous year to cross the Rs. 1000-crore mark.

According to the latest annual report, ITC’s branded packaged foods business grew 87 per cent in 2005-06. In the staples category, ‘Aashirvaad Atta’ emerged as the leader amongst the national branded players with a market share of 45 per cent.

During the year, ITC also made a foray into the branded spices market under the ‘Aashirvaad’ brand. ITC’s ‘Sunfeast’ biscuit volumes doubled during the year and the brand has already captured eight per cent of the total biscuits market in India.

In its lifestyle-retailing segment ITC has commenced export of garments under the quota-free regime. The company is augmenting its manufacturing capacities across its portfolio – ‘Wills Sport’, ‘Wills Clublife’ and the ‘Classic’. ITC retails the brands through exclusive outlets and shop-in shops.

In its greetings, gifting and stationery business, ITC is planning to launch another notebook brand in addition to “Classmate’. ITC plans to leverage on its distribution strengths in smaller towns and rural areas, especially in markets served by the e-Choupal and ‘Choupal Saagar’ networks.

ITC also plans to scale up its FMCG operations over the next few years through a combination of synergistic collaboration among the various businesses in its portfolio, significant investments in brand building and further enhancement of supply chain and marketing activities.