ITC operates a caderised Finance function that serves all its businesses. The Finance function in ITC proactively partners the various businesses of ITC. The functional role is a dynamic amalgam of 3 distinct dimensions, namely, that of a Value Strategist, a Risk & Opportunity Manager and a Service & Solution Provider. ITC's multi-business context provides opportunities for working in a wide range of business environments, enabling growth through professional development. A career in Finance offers you a range of challenging assignments across operational accounting, business planning and analytics, strategy evaluation, risk management, treasury management and commercial negotiations.
Post induction, candidates could be positioned either in one of the Company's varied businesses or Corporate Headquarters or in the Company's Internal Audit function. The posting could be anywhere in India depending upon the need, as the Company has units and business headquarters in metros, smaller towns and up - country locations. During the course of one's career, the individual moves across several such locations.
In the business finance role, employees will be placed and rotated through operational roles both in the field (at manufacturing units/marketing offices) and Head Office. Opportunities for working on specific projects and in cross-functional teams are also available to provide business exposure to enable the application of conceptual knowledge to business situations and hone leadership capability.
In ITC's Internal Audit, unlike in traditional audits, managers work in a live business environment and contribute to the effectiveness of management systems in a fast-changing, dynamic set-up. This period entails considerable travel and gives the individual a first-hand opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Company's business systems and strategies at work. After this stint the manager is positioned in one of the Company's businesses at any of the operating units spread across the country.
Your career in finance usually commences with being a member of the operational unit team or audit team with specific independent responsibilities. Based on performance and merit, you will in course of time, be entrusted with the leadership responsibility of heading the function in a unit or business area with a team reporting to you.
With over 31,000 employees across the group, scores of manufacturing facilities and operations spread all over the country, the Human Resources function in ITC offers very challenging career opportunities. With a legacy of over a hundred years, management of human resources relies heavily on the wealth of experience of the past and simultaneously constantly reinvents itself to remain contemporary and contribute to the achievement of our strategic objectives.
ITC's Human Resources policies and strategies seek to ensure that HR Systems and processes focus on building a customer-focused organisation that further enhances the organizational capability to compete and win the market. People are ITC's unique source of competitive advantage and HR Systems and processes ensure that the potential of our human resources is leveraged to enhance the wealth generating capability of the enterprise and in building a winning organization.
ITC provides you an opportunity to experience the diversity present within the Human Resources function ranging from Employee Relations and Employee Engagement - Negotiations, Employee Welfare, Building Alignment, Productivity Enhancement, Process Excellence to Salary and Wage Administration, Statutory Compliance and Corporate Social Development initiatives. The diversity of ITC's businesses also ensures that you experience the varied dynamics of the function that comes into play in different business scenarios.
A typical career in HR entails significant experience in each of the areas mentioned above, which helps you develop as a holistic HR Manager. A career in ITC will lead you from being a part of a unit to heading a unit/region, to heading various functions within HR and finally to heading the function at the divisional or corporate level. You will be encouraged to be a part of various cross functional teams, an experience that will enable you understand how different functions work synergistically to produce business outcomes.
A diversified company with over 40 FMCG product categories, over 10,000 SKUs, the largest FMCG sales and distribution network (1 lakh+ market, 2 million+ outlets), homegrown world-class brands, ever-expanding product portfolio, all this and more makes ITC the place to be in for a Marketing professional. ITC's aggressive pace of growth can be gauged by the fact that in 2001 ITC had a single FMCG product, less than 100 SKUs, 2 channels of distribution, and 6 factories/OCMs as compared to today where there are 40 FMCG products categories, with over 10000 SKUs, 8 channels of distribution, more than 200 factories /OCMs. The phenomenal growth story of ITC throws open a world of challenges and opportunities as well as an opportunity for you to be a part of this evolving story be it sales and distribution, brands, market research, new product development, business-to-business marketing, rural marketing amongst others.
ITC's Trade Marketing and Distribution (TM&D) vertical is the sales and distribution arm whose strategic objective is to provide sharper focus to ITC's FMCG businesses and evolve Trade Marketing & Distribution into a benchmark ecosystem, thereby delivering on the organisation's vision of becoming the No. 1 FMCG Company in India. ITC's TM&D vertical straddles one of the largest salesforce networks in the country, best-in-class systems and processes, ever-growing distribution reach, cutting-edge technology, cost optimization, and most importantly, a highly motivated workforce.
Bingo!, Classmate, Fiama, Vivel, Sunfeast, Aashirvaad, Aim, Mangaldeep, Fabelle, Yippee!, Engage amongst others are world-class brands developed in-house and are standing testimonials to ITC's superior brand building capabilities. Brand management in ITC offers you a perspective on the creation & implementation of a marketing strategy, which includes all the elements of the marketing mix. It is a role where you will be given complete ownership of the brand, its financials and control over all the aspects that drive brand growth. The role also encapsulates tremendous exposure in the fields of advertising, "Go to Market" strategies, consumer insights, market research, consumer & business analytics, media management, handling legal and environmental issues as well as continuous interaction with the sales force.
ITC's Paperboards and Specialty Paper Division (PSPD) and the Packaging and Printing Business (PPB) are leaders in creating successful brands in what is otherwise viewed as a commodity by the rest of the industry. These businesses provide you the opportunity to experience the dynamics of business-to-business marketing. A pioneer in the area of sustainability, PSPD is one of the main contributors to our company's positive achievements in Carbon, Water and Solid Waste Management. PSPD's sustainability initiatives, which have been acknowledged extensively, have enabled a very unique value offering to customers in terms of environment-friendly products.
Here you will be engaged in customer engagement, relationship building, market research, product development, branding, niche advertising and promotion and will help you appreciate, identify and leverage key drivers of value - for the customer and for the business. You will be an integral part of the team that constantly drives innovation, growth and value.
The objective of supply chain function is to ensure that products are available always fresh, at the right time and in the right place. A career in ITC's Supply Chain function will involve roles in Supply Chain Planning which involves demand and supply planning or in Physical Distribution which involves warehousing and transportation. The complexity of ITC's Supply Chain network can be gauged by the fact that ITC currently has more than 50 warehouses and 70 factories spread across the country and over 1200 trucks transporting ITC's goods daily!!! Over a period of time you will gain significant exposure to different aspects of the function thereby obtaining an end-to-end view of the supply chain function.
The supply chain function in ITC is responsible for the distribution of 18 product categories, 75 sub-product categories to over 2 million outlets distributed over 1 lakh markets. The wide product range, uniqueness of each category in terms of requirement, large network operation and early responsibilities make a career in the supply chain function extremely challenging and enriching.
Involvement in planning will enable you to work in close coordination with different businesses and functions within these businesses i.e. sales, production, and logistics. Category-specific and unique "Route to Market" models, coupled with best-in-class technology such as APO, I2-SCS, SAP, constant and unparalleled investments into technology, infrastructure and most important of all into people development through training sessions, make a career in ITC's supply chain function an ever learning and exciting journey.
ITC Agri Business Division adds a unique dimension to the supply chain function. The Leaf Tobacco Supply Chain of ITC spans across the globe, shipping over 150 M. Kg of Unmanufactured Tobacco to more than 50 countries. The main objective of Leaf Tobacco supply chain is to deliver on time in full, Indian tobacco to its customers sourced from reliable sources. ITC's leaf supply chain operations are spread across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; it operates from over 200 individual nodes, comprising 43 warehouses, managing over 700 SKU's.
The supply chain function of the Division coordinates the leaf from the farmer level until it is manufactured into a cigarette. These operations involve seamless interaction with all the functions of the business. The leaf supply chain has systems in place that provide traceability for every leaf of tobacco to the farm where it was grown. An agri-commodity supply chain demands very high hygiene standards and protocols to protect the quality of the tobacco and this is a key priority for the business.
The environment in which leaf supply chain operates is very dynamic and uncertain (weather, global crop scenarios) which makes it imperative for the function to develop inherent flexibility and build robust processes to cater to customer requirements. Given the scale and scope of tobacco operations and with the motto of exceeding customer expectations, systematic investments have been made to develop customised supply chains for customers, build state-of-the-art warehousing facilities, benchmark Information Technology and developing world-class planning systems.
ITC recognizes the need to nurture specialism and expertise in areas that give the Company a distinct competitive advantage. In keeping with this need, the Company has put in place a unique strategy to attract and retain "specialists", anchored in the following premises:
In each function, certain specific positions require possession of unique authority over a critical aspect of the business, knowledge and skills that are unique and not common across industries and are not easily replaceable. There are certain positions in any organization where longevity of the individual in that position leads to acquisition of in-depth knowledge and experience which would take another individual in that position years to acquire. Therefore, there is a need to retain individuals in these key positions for as long as is possible.
In keeping with this approach, certain positions have been identified to be "specialist" in nature. These include Research Scientists, Leaf blenders, agronomists, Legal Resources in Trade Marks, Tobacco and Health, Papermakers, Forex dealers, Commodity traders, chefs, Food and Beverage specialists, etc.
The remuneration of individuals in these specialist positions is de-linked from the remuneration matrix applicable to the rest of the business and is determined by the criticality of skill, individual competence and experience.
The Company strives to encourage individuals in these specialist positions to continue in them, by rewarding and recognising their contribution in that position, rather than having them look to the traditional routes for career progression and enhancement.
More than 200 factories, best-in-class technology, state-of-the-art facilities, diversity in roles, processes and in businesses make ITC a dream company for professionals pursuing a career in technical function. ITC recruits the best engineering minds from both premier engineering campuses across the country and directly from the market for roles in its technical function. The objective of ITC's Technical function is to service the market with world-class products and huge investments are made continuously to remain at the cutting edge of technology and most importantly, towards the enrichment and development of our human capital.
ITC visits premier engineering campuses (IITs and select NITs) to induct "techno-managers" into the technical function. In ITC responsibility comes early. These roles can range from operations, maintenance, engineering, project management and logistics. The role can involve heading a small department having 100-150 employees or managing a project involving substantial capital expenditure or managing the supply chain and logistics. The roles also include managing the maintenance activities for the plant or can be in the core engineering area. Therefore, each role has a different flavour of its own and therefore its challenges and learning opportunities.
For professionals recruited from the market roles are offered in keeping with the nature and length of their experience. The roles range from entry level roles to the ones which involve management of entire departments such as Production or Engineering.
In the technical function, you will be rotated across these roles to provide you with wider exposure and an overall business perspective. Based on performance and potential, you will be moved up to head a department having a size of more than 500 employees as early as 2-3 years from the date of joining the Company. From there again based on merit, you will be given the opportunity of becoming the head of an entire engineering department of the factory or the production department and going forward the opportunity to head an entire factory.