ITC Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Puri believes success in the coming decade will increasingly depend on the ability to anticipate change, continuously innovate and build resilient value chains.
In his FY26 annual report, Puri introduces what he calls a “TURN” world, short for Turbulence, Uncertainty and Rapid Change, to explain why companies need a fundamentally different playbook for growth. He states that businesses can no longer rely on brands or scale alone to stay competitive.
ITC’s response is what it calls the ‘ITC Next’ strategy—a framework designed to make the company more resilient, technology-driven and future-ready. Rather than relying solely on traditional consumer businesses, the strategy combines digital acceleration, AI-led decision-making, science-based innovation, sustainability, agile supply chains and enterprise synergies to create new growth vectors. The objective is to leverage capabilities built over decades in agriculture, manufacturing, research and distribution to enter adjacent, higher-value businesses while strengthening the competitiveness of its existing operations.
A New Reality
“The world is navigating a critical inflection point marked by turbulence, uncertainty and rapid change,” Puri writes, pointing to geopolitical tensions, climate-induced disruptions, evolving consumer behaviour and the rapid advance of artificial intelligence and digital technologies as forces that are rewriting the rules of competition. Together, they call for “novel strategies to reimagine the future,” he says.
For Puri, TURN is more than another management acronym. It is a recognition that disruption is no longer an occasional shock but a permanent feature of the business environment. Companies, he argues, will have to become more agile, innovation-led and resilient if they are to sustain growth in an increasingly unpredictable world.
A New Playbook
Instead of viewing manufacturing, agriculture, research, technology, packaging, distribution and hospitality as independent businesses, the report presents them as interconnected capabilities that reinforce one another. As Puri notes, “at the heart of this transformation lies the power of synergy,” referring to ITC’s ability to leverage strengths developed in one business across many others.
The numbers illustrate that transformation. Since the turn of the millennium, ITC’s non-cigarette businesses have grown more than forty-fold and today contribute around two-thirds of net segment revenue, reflecting the company’s long-term diversification strategy.
Redefining Competitive Advantage
The annual report also recasts sustainability as a source of competitive advantage rather than a compliance obligation. Puri argues that “enterprises of the future will not only have to be agile, consumer-centric, innovative and digital-first but also purpose-driven and responsibly competitive,” positioning climate action, circularity and inclusive growth as integral to long-term value creation.
That philosophy also shapes ITC’s broader economic vision. The company reiterates its commitment to strengthening domestic manufacturing, farmer partnerships, research and innovation under its long-standing “Nation First: Sab Saath Badhein” credo, aligning business growth with India’s aspiration of becoming a Viksit Bharat.
While framed through ITC’s own transformation, Puri’s message extends well beyond the company. His annual report is ultimately less about reviewing the past year than about redefining what competitive advantage will mean in the decade ahead.
His central argument is that companies will increasingly compete less through the strength of individual products or brands and more through the systems that connect them, from manufacturing and technology to innovation, supply chains and sustainability. In a world defined by turbulence, uncertainty and rapid change, the businesses that endure, Puri suggests, will be those that can anticipate disruption and adapt faster than everyone else.