Kolkata

ITC LTD, the tobacco-to-FMCG major, is exploring opportunities to export its ‘Mangaldeep’ brand of agarbattis produced in Tripura to Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries soon.

ITC kicked off its maiden venture in Tripura in July last year at the request of the Tripura government to provide value addition opportunities to the natural resources like bamboo, which is abundantly available in Tripura. Subsequently, ITC initiated a plan to cover bamboo development for Agarbatti sticks and manufacture ‘Mangaldeep’ agarbattis at Agartala.

While the Tripura government has facilitated the ITC project by providing primary funding and infrastructure for implementation of the programme, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (ILFS) was appointed the nodal agency to manage, monitor and coordinate implementation of the programme and manage the disbursal of funds.Engineering Resources Group (ERG) is the implementation agency for the project while ITC’s role is limited to providing user inputs to improve quality of the agarbatti sticks and identification and selection of vendors in the region for production of agarbattis.

ITC claims that despite the locational disadvantages, production in Agartala has reached 10 million sticks a month which, after selling in the eastern region, can be exported to the neighbouring countries.

The Tripura government has recently announced a series of initiatives to facilitate the project, such as sales tax exemption and offering subsidy for road transport.