ITC, as a responsible corporate citizen, complies fully with all relevant statutory regulations and legislations pertaining to product information and labelling. In view of the diverse nature of ITC’s businesses, the policy, procedures, management systems & compliance mechanisms for each business vary.

The FMCG-Cigarettes Business complies fully with the following Acts:

Weights & Measures Act
Cigarettes Act, 1975
Central Excise & Customs Act
COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act)

The Business has provisions in place to ensure validation of the product with respect to all relevant statutes prior to commercial launch. The product development process, based on Six Sigma methodologies, envisages a formal check of all product-related statutory compliance, before finalisation of the product specifications and design. A rigorous Quality Management system at all stages of manufacturing ensures meticulous adherence to product design. The Business also has a system in place for monthly review and confirmation of compliance to all statutes by operating managers. This confirmation is communicated to the Corporate Management Committee.

In the Leaf Tobacco Business all the products are labelled to meet customer specifications. Labels normally contain information about the Grade, Crop Year, Weight, Lot No., date and the location where the product is packaged and, in certain cases, the destination and the customer that the product is intended for.

All the packages are bar-coded. The products scrupulously conform to the prescribed chemistry (Sugars, Nicotine, Chloride, etc.), Particle Size distribution, stem content and the Packing (Moisture and Temperature) requirements of the customer. The protocols for testing and tolerances are specified by the customer.

The manufacturing units at Anaparti and Chirala are ISO 9001 certified. The quality procedures for the above parameters are clearly enunciated in the ISO 9001 manual. The Units have advanced systems to monitor strict adherence to process and packing specifications laid down by the customers. In addition to providing information, samples from the final packages are sent to customers for cross-verification in their laboratories.

In the Paperboards & Specialty Papers Business, information about the product, covering relevant technical parameters agreed & finalised with the customers, is documented in the product specification sheet. Quality Assurance certificates are issued against consignments on request from customers. The label on each product pack bears the product name, substance (gsm), size, weight & batch/reference number for effective traceability.

In the Hotels Business, the Company does not produce and sell any packaged products. However, product information regarding Rooms and Food & Beverages is communicated through brochures, in-room literature and the website.

To ensure continuous compliance with the statutes, the business has an internal mechanism of checks and compliance certification by operating managers.

In addition to the statutory requirements, the Business ensures voluntary declaration of nutrition facts in the final packaging of its Ready to Eat products.

In the year 2004-05, the Business conducted consumer satisfaction surveys (in different parts of India) on 4 occasions. In all surveys, ITC’s food products were rated better than those of competition.

In the Lifestyle Retailing Business all the products are labelled to conform to statutory requirements. Additional information on attributes of the product is given to inform the consumer of the salient features of the product. The product also carries instructions on handling and care.

Various operating policies, systems and control mechanisms are embedded in each business to ensure consistent delivery of a quality product to the consumer.

In the FMCG-Cigarettes Business, there is very stringent auditing to ensure the strictest compliance with the provisions related to the display of the statutory warning. ITC ensures adherence to statutes and begins benchmarking to ‘best in class’ practices at the product design and development stage itself. Identification and choice of raw materials is preceded by a rigorous validation of conformity to exacting product specifications. ITC’s manufacturing facilities are state-of-the-art. New generation machines and computer controlled process equipment ensure product quality and consistency. These machines have facilities for online detection, multiple checks during different stages of the manufacturing process and rejection of products and batches that do not conform to specifications. The manufacturing processes are subjected to stringent statistical process control systems and online quality management systems to ensure that products strictly conform to specifications. An internationally acclaimed Product Quality Rating System (PQRS) has been institutionalised at all manufacturing locations. All aspects of product quality are measured at every stage of the manufacturing process to ensure the highest standards.

After manufacturing, a sample analysis of the final product, with regard to various parameters and packaging, is carried out at the ITC Group Research and Development Centre (IGRDC) in Bengaluru, which is recognised by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). After this analysis, the requisite feedback goes to the manufacturing units. Once the product is in the market, the respective brand managers do a monthly certification for compliance with various statutory provisions.