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The BAT-ITC Tussle
Public Drama Contd...
Soon, the inside details of the ITC-BAT conflict became public knowledge as a series of allegations and counter-allegations from both the parties surfaced in media reports. Commenting on the showdown, a report said, "As skeletons come tumbling out, ITC's carefully nurtured public image as a professionally managed enterprise has been tarnished." |
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Background Note
ITC's history goes back to 1905, when BAT set up the Peninsular Tobacco Company (Peninsular) in India. Peninsular was involved in cigarette manufacturing, tobacco procurement and processing.It set up a full-fledged sales organization named the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited (Imperial) in 1910. To cope with the growing demand, BAT set up another cigarette manufacturing unit in Bangalore in 1912. To handle the raw material (tobacco leaf) requirements, a new company called Indian Leaf Tobacco Company (ILTC) was incorporated in July 1912.The poor quality of tobacco obtained from Bihar prompted ILTC to search for better alternatives, leading to the establishment of the South India Leaf Area (SILA) in Andhra Pradesh. By 1919, BAT had transferred its holdings in Peninsular and ILTC to Imperial. Following this, Imperial replaced Peninsular as BAT's main subsidiary in India...
