Y.C. Deveshwar on Brand Building

Hotels, the column notes, always enjoyed a special place in Deveshwar's heart from 1996 onward. Backed by the huge cash flow from ITC's dominant cigarette business, he expanded the hotel portfolio to nearly 100 properties (120 today).

Deveshwar is quoted dubbing ITC 'India's Trademarks Corporation' — a phrase that recast the BAT-controlled cigarette maker as a national champion rather than a foreign subsidiary. The phrase mattered because it gave ITC a nationalist halo during the hostile takeover fight and aligned the company's identity with the post-liberalization ambition of Indian firms defining themselves against multinational parents.

Wharton frames ITC's transformation under Deveshwar as a journey from a single-product tobacco company founded in 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India to a multi-business corporate enterprise with turnover around US$6 billion by 2010. Non-tobacco businesses — foods, personal care, hotels, paper, agriculture and IT — accounted for about 40% of revenues by 2010.

The clearest example Deveshwar cites of synergies across ITC's diverse portfolio is Aashirvaad atta. ITC's e-Choupal network enables cost-effective wheat sourcing with traceability through identity-preserved procurement. Tobacco-blending expertise informs customized blending for local tastes. Hotel master chefs contribute consumer-palate insights to the foods business. The packaging arm supplies the bag.

On FMCG, Deveshwar tells Wharton the sector was expected to triple to over US$80 billion by 2018. ITC's foray blends internal competencies — sourcing, branding, trade marketing, distribution, manufacturing — with emerging opportunities.