New Delhi, July 25, 2025: At the recent Annual General Meeting (AGM), ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri emphasized the company’s commitment to collaborative models for sustainable development, highlighting that ITC has forged over 95 Public-Private-People (PPP) partnerships to drive purposeful outcomes.
“ITC believes that partnerships are powerful enablers of scale and impact,” said Mr. Puri. “Enterprises exist to serve both an economic and social purpose. These meaningful interventions at scale give me the confidence that enterprises can indeed shape a tomorrow which will be much more secure for future generations.”
ITC’s CSR programmes span over 300 districts and are designed under a two-horizon approach. Horizon 1 aims to enhance current livelihoods and food security through natural resource management and income diversification. Horizon 2 focuses on building future capabilities in education, healthcare, skilling, and women empowerment. As of now, the company’s interventions have reached 60 lakh women, supported education for nearly 28 lakh children, trained over 1.2 lakh youth, and facilitated over 7 lakh healthcare engagements.
A key initiative highlighted at the AGM was ITC’s Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) programme, which aims to de-risk farming systems against environmental stresses. Implemented with a participatory model, the programme includes high-yielding, climate-resilient seed varieties developed by ITC’s Life Sciences and Technology Centre (LSTC), alongside tailored agro-chemical practices and micro zone-specific solutions. The CSA initiative currently spans 31 lakh acres across 100 districts in 19 states and benefits more than 12 lakh farmers. The company aims to extend this to over 40 lakh acres by 2030.
Water security was another critical focus area. ITC has achieved AWS Platinum certification for all of its high-risk water sites and is working beyond operational boundaries to restore river basins in factory catchments. The company has already attained water positive status in four basins, with one more in progress. In urban areas like Bengaluru and Tiruvottiyur, ITC is also implementing catchment-based water conservation initiatives. Its rainwater harvesting programme currently covers 18 lakh acres and contributes to an estimated annual savings of 1,400 million kilolitres across 15 crops in 12 states. As a result, ITC’s freshwater potential is now five times its operational consumption.
Complementing its afforestation efforts, ITC is also undertaking biodiversity conservation programmes that currently cover 6.4 lakh acres, with a target of reaching 10 lakh acres by 2030 through nature-based solutions to preserve and restore ecosystem services.
Through these large-scale and multidimensional initiatives, ITC continues to strengthen rural resilience and contribute to India’s development agenda, placing equal emphasis on economic viability and social responsibility.
x
