Kolkata: ITC completed a 100 years  on  the  24th  of  August, 2010. A glorious moment  in its history, the occasion was marked by celebrations across all its offices and facilities in India, with Company flag-hoisting ceremonies to commemorate  and  pay  homage to the spirit of the institution.

At a special Centenary event, in Kolkata, Chairman Mr. Y C Deveshwar,  addressing  a 29,000 strong audience of employees across the country through a webcast,  said  that: "Innovation  should  be a source  for  creating  consumer delight as well as triple  bottom  line performance so as to generate greater value for the shareholder and the society. Value  creation  for  the  Indian  society is best achieved  by  creating sustainable livelihoods and replenishing  natural capital." Emphasising on the need for competitive vitality,  Chairman  Mr Deveshwar underscored the need to leverage knowledge  resident  across  diverse businesses in its   world class   human  resources  to  create "Champion  Teams" that would continuously innovate to  deliver competitively superior customer value. He  reiterated  his  firm  belief  that the unique amalgam  of  ITC’s Vision, Values and Vitality has ensured that the Company is ‘Future-ready’.

The  event  also  included the felicitation of the winners  of  the  ‘Voice of ITC’ contest  –  a one-of-its-kind  internal talent contest, that saw more  than  a 1000 entries, out of which the final 15  were shortlisted to record the ITC Anthem. The ITC  anthem, ‘Kal ki Oaur’, formally released on this  occasion, expresses ITC’s abiding commitment to  growth,  transformation  and development as it steps into the next century.

As  part of  the  ITC  centenary  initiative, the Classmate ‘Ideas  for  India Challenge ’ was also launched.  Engaging  the youth of the country, the nation wide programme invites ideas which have the potential  to  transform  their India of tomorrow. The Classmate ideas for India challenge will reach out  to  25  lakh  students  across 30 cities, 500 schools and 200 colleges.

A unique  internal  contest,  ‘Think  Next’  was launched  on the occasion of ITC’s centenary. This enterprise-wide  competition is aimed at fostering innovation  as  a  key  driver  for  growth  and a differentiator to remain competitively superior in the  global marketplace. The contest would unfold over  the  following  months  and  reward the most innovative   ideas  from  among  ITC’s  employees, touching  upon diverse areas like systems, product development,  knowledge  management  and other key processes.

ITC’s  employees also signed the ITC Pledge – an oath  of  duty and dedication that reaffirms their commitment to the organisation and its core values and beliefs.

The  ITC story is a journey of transformation from a  single  product  company  to a well-diversified business   conglomerate  with  interests  in  Fast Moving   Consumer  Goods,  Hotels,  Paperboards  & Packaging,     Agri-business    and    Information Technology,  with  a market capitalization of over Rs  100,000  crores and a Profit after Tax of over Rs 4000 crore. This long and inspirational journey of  challenge  and  change  has unfolded in tandem with  India’s  own evolution and growth across ten decades. It   has   been   the   journey  of  an organization  that  has  consciously  put  Country before  Corporation  –  an enterprise that proudly echoes  the  credo  “Lets Put India First”. It has been   a   journey  of  leadership,  not  only  in shareholder  value  creation,  but also in serving all   stakeholders   and   in   meeting   societal expectations.  It  has  been  a  voyage  that  has brought  ITC  global recognition as an exemplar in sustainability practices – the only company in the world  of  its  size  to be carbon positive, water positive  and solid waste recycling positive. This long and eventful travel across a century has been particularly  meaningful and satisfying because it has   enabled ITC to create  over  5  million sustainable livelihoods.