COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Tobacco beneficial to national exchequer, says ITC chief

Consumption of tobacco maybe harmful to health but is beneficial to the national exchequer, according to Y C Deveshwar, chairman, ITC.

Consumption of tobacco enables a whopping Rs 10 billion to trickle into the national kitty. ''This has a multiplier effect on the economy especially the rural sector which reaps the maximum benefits from the tobacco trade,'' says Deveshwar.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Deveshwar said in India, 85 per cent of tobacco is consumed in the country other than in the form of cigarettes. In other words, cigarrettes account for only 15 per cent of the total tobacco consumption.

On building an Indian multinational, Deveshwar said the chief executive must be the key figure where he lays heavy emphasis on planning and not making plans. ''He should not do backseat driving but must change the driver itself while running the company," the ITC chief said.

There is a need to become globally competitive. Otherwise, ''the company will be consigned to the dustbin of history''. Citing ITC's performance, he said the company's earnings have tripled since he had taken over. ''We have not yet arrived but we have just got the right to be in the domestic market as an Indian multi-national,'' the ITC chief said.

The governance code must prescribe high norms of transparency and is instrumental for generating wealth within the company.

On Indian companies, he said, ''The rate at which globalisation is taking place, there is a crisis at the door of each Indian corporate doorstep.''

There is no entrepreneurial spirit coupled by an absence of global vision.

He expressed relief at moving off from the helm of affairs from Air-India to ITC. ''ITC has a vision. We had formed 105 companies out of it.''

UNI

Business news