Section 35
ITC Limited
Started as: Cigarettes, from a leased office on Radha Bazar Lane, Calcutta
- founded
- 1910
- founder
- Incorporated as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India by British promoters
- headquarters
- Kolkata, West Bengal
- 80,867.49
- Gross revenue, FY2025-26 (₹ crore) · 2026
- 40+
- Farmers covered by the e-Choupal network (lakh) · 2026
- 10
- States covered by e-Choupal · 2026
The story
ITC began on 24 August 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India, working from a leased office in Calcutta. For decades it was a cigarette company.
It first diversified to support its main business: packaging in 1925 and later paperboards. As Indian ownership grew, it was renamed, and from the 1970s it moved into hotels, farm exports and then, from 2001, foods, notebooks and personal care.
Today ITC is run by professional managers with no promoter family. Its farm network e-Choupal reaches over 4 million farmers in 10 states, and its FY26 gross revenue was ₹80,867.49 crore.
Where it works today
CigarettesPackaged foodsPersonal careNotebooks and stationeryAgarbattis and matchesPaperboards and packagingAgri-businessIT services
Main companies
ITC Limited · ITC Hotels (demerged 2025) · ITC Infotech · Surya Nepal
Timeline
- 1910Incorporated on 24 August as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India.
- 1925Sets up a packaging and printing business to supply its own cigarette packs.
- 1974After ownership becomes more Indian, the company is renamed I.T.C. Limited.
- 1975Enters hotels with a hotel in Chennai.
- 1979Enters paperboards with Bhadrachalam Paperboards.
- 1990Sets up its agri-business division for farm exports.
- 2000Starts e-Choupal with soya farmers in Madhya Pradesh.
- 2001Enters branded packaged foods.
- 2005Enters personal care products.
- 2025The hotels business is demerged into ITC Hotels Limited from 1 January.