ITC Ltd aims to grow its greeting cards
business to a Rs 100-crore operation by 2005-06 with a substantial portion of the revenue
emanating from its stationery products range, the division’s chief executive C. S Das
said. The greeting cards segment did business of Rs 15 crore in the past financial year
and turnover was likely to rise to Rs 30-35 crore in 2003-04 with growth being driven by
larger availability of its stationery range, he said.
ITC, currently the second-biggest player in
the greeting cards category, intends to complete the national roll-out of its range of
school notebooks- where it has to contend with just one major competitor- by next month to
drive revenue upwards. "Stationery is a bigger business than greeting cards
nationwide. We expect the turnover of the stationery range to equal that of greeting cards
in the next financial year and it is quite likely that it would become a bigger business
than greeting cards (for ITC) in 2005-06," Das told TNN.
Das said the greeting cards business would not be hit by
the increasing popularity of the short messaging service offered by mobile phone operators
and e-greetings. "All three can co-exist," he said. Das said greeting cards in
India had remained largely English-centric.
