ITC partners Orissa Rural Development and Marketing Society(ORMAS)
to support livelihood creation in rural areas of Orissa
In line with its commitment to contribute to sustainable development and inclusive growth, ITC Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding with the Orissa Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) at an event in Bhubaneshwar in the presence of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Naveen Patnaik. As a part of this partnership with ORMAS, ITC will lend its support to facilitate in marketing of raw battis produced by rural women to vendors supplying “Mangaldeep” brands. This will empower rural women with additional source of livelihood. The project is expected to provide employment opportunities to over 3,000 people in Orissa.
Over the years, ITC has crafted business models that innovatively converge business and societal goals to simultaneously create value for both shareholders and society. The Company’s business and social investments programme generate livelihoods for over 5 million people, many of whom represent the poorest in India. ITC’s programme for social inclusion and livelihood creation provides economic opportunities to poor women in rural areas amongst other initiatives. This engagement involves assisting them to form self-help groups that enable them to build up small savings and finance self-employment and micro-enterprises.
A large number of women are involved in rolling agarbattis which are used by ITC for its agarbatti business. ITC is one of the leading marketers of incense sticks manufactured by the small scale sector in India and its brand Mangaldeep has emerged as one of the leading national brands in the country. The business model used in marketing agarbattis enables large number of livelihood creation contributing to ITC’s triple bottom line philosophy of simultaneously augmenting economic, environmental and social capital. So far, the agarbatti business has contributed to creating livelihoods for over 8,000 people through small scale entrepreneurs and self-help groups. The Company provides support in the form of capacity building for enhancing efficiency, which in turn, enables improvement in the quality of raw battis produced and encourages women to improve productivity and hence augment their incomes.
ITC’s partnership with the Orissa Rural Development and Marketing Society will not only help establish a supply chain model for raw battis but will also contribute to value addition through the establishment of a perfuming and packaging centre for “Mangaldeep” branded agarbattis in Orissa in the near future. This initiative by ITC together with ORMAS will provide an alternative source of livelihood to rural women in Orissa and will also enhance market access for raw battis in the state.
