With over a century of engagement with agriculture, 94% of ITC’s businesses are linked to agri-crops or plantations, generating substantial livelihoods. ITC nurtures 21 value-chains across 23 States to source nearly 6 million tonnes of agri-produce. In this address, I will focus on ITC’s Agri Business, which is now the country’s largest private sector agri-enterprise, doubling segment revenue in just over 5 years to nearly ₹20,300 crore in FY26. The ITC Next strategy is today transforming the Agri Business, while ushering in NextGeneration farming and rural empowerment.
At the core of this transformation is the ITCMAARS phygital ecosystem, designed to empower FPOs with digital technologies, hyper-personalised advisories, quality inputs, market linkages, scientific agronomy and climate-smart practices to improve farm competitiveness and resilience. In a short span, ITCMAARS has onboarded over 2.6 million farmers across 11 States, with the ambition to benefit 10 million farmers by 2030. Initial estimates indicate crop yield gains of 15–20% and improvement in net returns by 25–30%.
Building on a recent horticulture pilot, anchored by FPOs, for the supply of high-quality fruits and vegetables, ITC plans to develop 4 additional hybrid Open-to-Sky and Controlled Environment Agriculture clusters to create a reliable, traceable supply chain for fresh-produce. Progressively, ITCMAARS is introducing precision-led agriculture and advanced agri-tech solutions, like IoT-enabled weather tracking, remote-sensing, drone-based services, to promote smart farming.
A vital component of ITC’s agri strategy is to promote Value-Added Agriculture to enable farmers scale the next horizon of profitable growth. This portfolio, which has grown at a CAGR of 33% over five years, today encompasses certified organic crops, processed agri-products, such as food-safe spices, horticulture, premium coffee, aquaculture and attribute-specific commodities, like high-starch maize and high-gluten wheat.
Taking this further, ITCMAARS will drive a Farming as a Service (FaaS) ecosystem to ‘Grow the Buy’, where crop value chains are customised to meet specific buyer needs. Certifications, traceability and responsible sourcing establish trust systems at scale, linking Indian farmers to domestic and global export markets. ITC’s Spices Business, for example, is today the country’s leading exporter of organic spices, supported by certified cultivation, backward integration and one of Asia’s largest spices processing facilities at Guntur.
In an era of climate stress and rising food-security imperatives, production of high-quality, resilient seeds and hybrids is vital to enhancing productivity, improving quality, increasing climate resilience, strengthening nutritional security and raising farmer incomes. ITC’s wholly owned subsidiary Technico, a global leader in pre-basic potato seeds, is investing in the world’s largest state-of-the-art aeroponic facility with 60 hi-tech controlled-environment greenhouses taking the combined capacity to 100 million TECHNITUBER®s.
Fostering an effective science-to-farm ecosystem, ITC’s LSTC is leveraging advanced breeding technologies, molecular genetics and digital tools to develop higher-yielding, climate-resilient, hybrid and disease-resistant varieties across crops such as tobacco, wheat, potato, eucalyptus and subabul. These have led to yields improving by 15-50%.
ITC is making appreciable progress in high-value, future-facing categories, such as Biological Extracts, with the commencement of a US FDA-compliant, export-oriented, pharmacopoeia-standard nicotine derivative processing facility, serving customers in Europe, USA and South Korea. In addition, ITC’s medicinal and aromatic plant ecosystem is developing high-active varieties and proprietary formulations, besides manufacturing high-purity extracts for domestic and global markets together with farmer training in best practices.
As we look ahead, ITC will continue to work towards shaping a more competitive, resilient and inclusive Agri-Business, which is not only creating new growth drivers but also contributing to enriching rural India, raising farmer incomes, fortifying food and livelihood security, and establishing globally trusted value chains.
