To begin with, it has taken up a farm-level project at Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh this year, where it is studying an array of medicinal plants like ashwagandha, sarpagandha, mint, tulsi and gudmar, among others. The 110-acre farm, built on semi-fertile land, is self-sufficient with 300,000 liters of rainwater harvesting facility and includes a nursery. The project is expected to take another couple of years and ITC plans to conduct pilot trials before taking a final call on its products strategy.

Sanjiv Puri, chief executive officer, said the company was exploring ways to develop “specific benefit-led products in the consumer goods space”. “Health and wellness are one of the vectors of our FMCG business and work is in progress. While medicines are something that is farthest away from what we do, the medicinal plants that we are working on can be used in supplements and natural personal care segment. We are already using aloe vera and lotus oil in personal care products,” he said.

ITC’s interest into space is not without rationale. According to consumer data analyst Nielsen India, the herbal natural segment is growing 1.7 times than that of other personal care categories. During the past five years, it has eaten up 5 per cent of the market and is currently pegged at Rs 18,500 crores with 41 per cent market share. Analysts from Nielsen also predicted that the category will gain 1 per cent share of the market every year.