ITC Ltd

10 Excluding renewable energy assets transferred to ITC Hotels Limited post demerger.

With water scarcity increasingly becoming an area of global and national concern, your Company continues to focus on an integrated water management approach that includes water conservation and harvesting initiatives at its units – while at the same time working towards meeting the water security needs of all stakeholders at the local watershed level. Several interventions have been rolled out to improve water-use efficiencies such as adopting latest technologies and increasing reuse and recycling practices within the fence while also working with farmers and other community members towards improving water-use efficiencies.

Demand side management is a critical component of your Company's Water Stewardship programme. Recognising the critical imperative of reducing water use, especially in agriculture, your Company continues to work with farmers to achieve ‘more crop per drop' and improve farmer incomes. Over 18 lakh acres have been covered during the year across 12 states through micro irrigation technologies and crop-specific agronomical practices. Basis parameters established earlier, there has been potential water savings of over 1,400 million kl during the year. These interventions are spread across 15 crops including four key agri value chains – wheat, tobacco, pulpwood and spices, and result in water savings up to 50% as compared to conventional practices.

The water-use efficient practices promoted also help in reducing GHG emissions as compared to the conventional practices followed.

The demand side measures are implemented along with augmenting supply at the sub-catchment level through various interventions of rainwater harvesting based on the recommendations of hydro-geological studies. The supply side interventions include enhancing capture and storage of rainwater (within soil surface and storage structures) and recharging aquifers. In the process, traditional water bodies are restored and wetland eco-systems are conserved. To have a long-lasting impact and balance out the competing demands on water resources, your Company has also extended work to river basin level in water stressed catchments. Based on the work done by your Company in four river basins viz. Maharashtra (Ghod basin), Madhya Pradesh (Kolans basin),

Tamil Nadu (Upper Bhawani basin) and Telangana (Murreru basin), water positive status was achieved in all the basins by end of the year as against water deficit estimated in the baseline studies. In South Pennar river basin of Karnataka, work has been initiated in the field, basis the recommendations from the river basin study done by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. This is being pursued through a Public Private Partnership with Karnataka Government and Vyakti Vikas Kendra for restoring the water bodies in the river basin.

Considering the increasing water stress in urban catchments, your Company is implementing water security programmes in Bengaluru and Chennai catchments. These programmes focus on restoring urban water bodies as well as tanks and their connectors, groundwater recharge and promotion of roof water harvesting and usage of water efficient taps. These measures are aimed at addressing challenges of groundwater depletion and also mitigating risks arising out of flooding during heavy rains.

Your Company also conducts efficacy studies to assess the impact of the watershed work carried out, and to ensure that maximum benefits accrue in the long-term.

As on 31st March, 2025, your Company's integrated watershed development projects covering over 1.8 million acres of land have created a total rainwater harvesting potential of over 59.90 million kl. In total, over 60 million kl of rainwater has been harvested, including within the fence, which is over five times the net water consumed by your Company's operations in FY 2024-25. With this, your Company has achieved its 2030 Sustainability 2.0 target of creating rainwater harvesting potential equivalent to over five times the net water consumption. In addition, your Company is spearheading the implementation of Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard which is a credible, globally applicable and recognised framework for ensuring sustainable water management within the wider water catchment context. During the year, two units of your Company i.e., Paper unit at Bhadrachalam and Branded Packaged Foods unit at Kapurthala, received the AWS Platinum level certification, the highest recognition for water stewardship awarded by AWS. Till date, nine units of your Company have achieved Platinum level certification under the

AWS Standard, thereby exceeding the commitment of getting eight sites certified by 2024.

In order to continuously reduce your Company's energy footprint, green features are being integrated in all new and old constructions including manufacturing units, warehouses and office complexes. Your Company is a pioneer in the green building movement, with 17 buildings having received Platinum certification by USGBC (US Green Building Council)/IGBC (Indian Green Building Council).

Several of your Company's factories and office complexes have received the Green Building certification from IGBC and the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED^?) certification from USGBC. The data centre at Bengaluru, ITC Sankhya, is the first data centre in the world to receive the LEED Platinum^? certification by USGBC. Large infrastructure investments such as the ITC Green Centre at Guntur and the ITC Green Centre at Bengaluru (both LEED Platinum^? certified) continue to demonstrate your Company's commitment to green buildings. Virginia House, Kolkata and ITC Centre, Kolkata – the headquarters of your Company, are also certified at the highest ‘LEED Platinum^?' rated

Green Building by USGBC.

Your Company continuestomakesignificantprogress in improving the circularity of waste generated in operations. The focus is on reducing waste through constant monitoring, improvement of efficiencies in material utilisation and adequate waste segregation thereby improving recycling rates. During the year, your Company achieved over 99% recycling of waste generated in course of its operations.

This has prevented waste from reaching landfills,with the associated problems of soil & groundwater contamination and GHG emissions, all of which can adversely impact public health. In addition, your Company's Paperboards & Specialty Papers Business recycled nearly 85,000 tonnes of externally sourced post-consumer waste paper, thereby creating yet another positive environmental footprint.

Your Company aims to go beyond the requirements of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2022 to ensure that over the next decade, 100% of packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable/biodegradable. Your Company is working towards optimising packaging in a way that reduces the environmental impact arising out of post-consumer packaging waste without affecting product integrity. This is being addressed in a comprehensive manner by optimising packaging design, introducing recycled content in packaging, identifying alternative packaging material with lower environmental impact and supporting development of suitable end-of-life solutions for packaging waste. Your Company has successfully implemented multiple large-scale models of solid waste management across the country. These models, based on principles of circular economy, are scalable, replicable and sustainable, and have enabled your Company to sustain its plastic neutral status since FY 2021-22. The approach is centred around treating waste as a resource and ensuring that minimal waste goes to landfill, which can be achieved only when waste is segregated at source. The initiatives focus on educating citizens on segregating waste at source into dry & wet streams and ensuring that value is derived from these resources and in the process, support sustainable livelihood for waste collectors. These models operate on a public-private partnership basis, with active involvement of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), civil society and the informal sector of waste collectors.

Your Company has exceeded its commitment on plastic neutrality for the third consecutive year by collecting and sustainably managing 76,000 tonnes of plastic waste, which is more than the plastic packaging utilised by your Company. Your Company has been obtaining independent third-party assurance of its plastic neutrality status since FY 2022-23.

Your Company's waste recycling programme, ‘WOW – Well-Being Out of Waste', enables the creation of a clean & green environment and promotes sustainable livelihoods for waste collectors. During the year, the programme continued to be executed in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi,

Dindigul, major towns of Telangana and several districts of Andhra Pradesh. The quantum of dry waste collected during the year was about 67,100 MT from over 1,760 wards. The programme has covered over 2.9 crore citizens in over 72 lakh households, 71 lakh school children and around 2,240 corporates since its inception. It has promoted sustainable livelihood for over 17,900 waste collectors by facilitating an effective collection system in collaboration with Municipal Corporations. The intervention has also created over 150 social entrepreneurs who are involved in optimising value capture from the collected dry waste. Your Company, in partnership with Kashtakari Panchayat and SWaCH Pune, runs an inclusive and decentralised waste management model in Pune to specifically focus on collection and recycling of low value Multi-Layered Plastic (MLP) packaging. Through a mobile collection system operating across 12 city wards and the Pune Cantonment Board, over 750 waste pickers collect MLP waste daily, receiving direct payments. The initiative processes over 130 MT of flexible plastics monthly, and has cumulatively recycled nearly 4,100 MT since 2019. The program not only boosts incomes for informal workers (contributing to ~12–15% of their earnings) but also provides formal employment to 43 individuals, showcasing a replicable model that combines environmental stewardship with social equity.

Further, a separate community-driven programme on decentralised Solid Waste Management (SWM), including closed loop Green Temple programme in collaboration with Swachh Bharat Mission, is operational in 34 districts across 12 states covering about 24.62 lakh additional households during the year, taking the cumulative coverage to nearly 75.21 lakh households. This programme deals with both wet and dry waste and focuses on minimising waste to landfill by managing waste at source. Under the programme, more than 6.7 lakh MT of waste was collected during FY 2024-25, out of which around 4.2 lakh MT of wet waste was composted, and 1.8 lakh MT of dry waste recycled, and thus 87% of the total waste was avoided from being sent to landfills.

Further, home composting was practiced by over 1.93 lakh households (8.3 lakh households till date).

As liquid waste is emerging as a growing challenge especially in rural areas, during the year, your Company has also initiated pilots of different decentralised solutions like soak pits, in line treatment, waste stabilisation ponds and vertical filters in nine States.

Your Company's partnership with Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Department (UDD) is enabling implementation of SWM programme in 85 ULBs across 75 districts of the State, reaching out to over 49 lakh households till date. Your Company's partnership with Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LSBA), Rural Development Department, Government of Bihar continued to promote decentralised SWM in 456 villages of Ganga region (‘Ganga Gram') across 12 districts of Bihar. During the year, refresher training and handholding support was provided to 3,100 Panchayat officials of these

456 Ganga Gram villages through a cascade approach, who then initiated focused waste management activities in their villages and covered over 4.6 lakh households. Your Company had also collaborated with Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Government of India, and India Sanitation Coalition (ISC), FICCI, to develop 36 Gram Panchayats (GPs) across 10 states as Lighthouses, demonstrating best practices in sanitation and waste management, which will be adopted by other GPs gradually. The partnership is part of the DDWS's plan of creating 75 Lighthouse Gram Panchayats across India. Till March 2025, of the 36 GPs, 28 GPs were declared Model by Government, with the balance 8 GPs on track to become Model in the coming months. Your Company's approach of involving Self Help Groups (SHGs) as service providers for Gram Panchayats in SWM and the use of Swachhata Mitra App for monitoring waste management in partnership with Bihar Government has got high appreciation as best practices.

Your Company's ‘YiPPee! Better World programme' is aimed at creating awareness about plastic waste and ways to reduce, recycle and reuse it among students. During the year, the intervention reached out to 14 lakh children across 4,175 schools. This programme along with Company's Social Investments Programme has provided schools with over 1,850 benches and tables and 350 sports kits made from recycled plastic.

Given the linkages between agriculture and the essential ecosystem services that nature provides, your Company recognises that the preservation and nurturing of biodiversity is crucial for long-term sustainability of its businesses. It is therefore committed to conducting its operations in a manner that protects, conserves and enriches biodiversity in line with the Board-approved Policies on Biodiversity Conservation and Deforestation.

For both greenfield and brownfield operations, processes areinplaceforassessinganyactualorpotentialbiodiversity related risk or impact including conducting environmental impact assessments wherever required by environmental regulations. Moreover, location-specific exposure including proximity to Key Biodiversity Areas is assessed periodically. Basis these assessments, key nature-related risks that are material to your Company's businesses/ locations are identified, and implemented. Location specific risks covered in these assessments include water stress, climate risks including extreme weather events like droughts and floods, land-use changes, soil quality and productivity, among others. Your Company also recognises the potential of nature-based solutions for carbon sequestration and building climate resilience, and prioritises actions to minimise impacts across ecosystems and manage dependencies in a sustainable manner. Your Company also has large scale programmes in place for ensuring deforestation-free leaf tobacco and wood value chains. For more information, refer to the Corporate Social Responsibility section.

Your Company, with its diverse and expanding portfolio of businesses, is working towards scaling up its sustainable supply chain initiatives as part of its Sustainability 2.0 Vision. Your Company has a Board-approved Policy on ‘Sustainable Supply Chain and Responsible Sourcing' and a ‘Code of Conduct for Suppliers and Service Providers' that together lay down the foundation for your Company's engagement with its suppliers. In line with this policy, your Company engages with its supply chain members for building their capacity, assessing sustainability risks, and supporting them in building resilience against such risks. The policy also encourages suppliers to work towards resource-use efficiency, natural resource management, GHG emission reduction and sustainable waste management. For focused engagement with key suppliers, your Company has created a framework for identifying its critical suppliers. Till FY 2024-25, more than 800 Tier-1 suppliers have been trained on ESG including 100% critical Tier-1 suppliers. Additionally, appx. 70% critical Tier-1 suppliers have been assessed on ESG aspects by a third party. For key agri value chains, your Company has implemented large scale sustainable and Climate Smart Agriculture programmes. Till date, 31.7 lakh acres and over 12 lakh farmers including 1.87 lakh women farmers have been covered under your Company's Climate Smart Agriculture programme. Your Company also supports farmers with adoption of sustainable farm certifications like Rainforest alliance (RFA), Forest Stewardship Council^? (FSC^?), and mitigation plans are developed

Global Agricultural Practices (G.A.P) for identifying and addressing environmental risks and human rights related issues. For more information, refer to the Corporate Social Responsibility section.

In the context of India's Triple burden of malnutrition, there is an urgent need to pivot towards healthier lifestyles which requires access to safe, sustainable and nutritious food. Your Company's Branded Packaged Foods Businesses have developed a 4-pillar model that uniquely combines the strategic commitments to deliver on its nutrition strategy – ‘Help India Eat Better'. The strategy has been developed to create an ecosystem and guide the organisation towards supporting the dream of a healthier nation via value-added products, sustainable food system initiatives, empowered people and healthy communities.

This also includes focus on diet diversity, food fortification, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge and use of millets. The strategy is also in line with Government of India initiatives such as Mission Poshan 2.0, Anemia Mukt Bharat, Kuposhan Mukt Bharat, Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan and the Aspirational Districts Programme. Robust science-based nutrition targets have also been developed and are continuously tracked and communicated to your Company's stakeholders.

The meticulous implementation of evolving scientific principles and technological advancements by your Company's research and development teams enables development of ‘better for you' portfolio. Your Company also achieved the first rank in ATNI India Index 2023 amongst 20 of the largest Indian food & beverage manufacturers as assessed by the globally recognised Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI). The index is published every 2-3 years and evaluates companies on their governance and management, production and distribution of healthy products, influence on consumer choices, and policies and actions targeting priority populations at high risk of malnutrition.

To ensure wider adoption of the ‘Triple Bottom Line' philosophy across the Industry, your Company established the ‘CII – ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development' (CESD) in 2006 in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). With a vision to drive transformation towards sustainable development, the Centre plays a focal role in Government Industry dialogues on national regulations, articulate stakeholder discourses on global policies, put forth Indian industry's stand on macro-economic issues and accentuate the need for sustainable and inclusive transformation. Major highlights from the year include:

The CII Climate Action Charter (CCAC) provides a platform for Indian businesses to map Climate Change as a material risk across value chains and develop long-term actions to build resilience. The Charter has been designed to provide impetus for collective action by Indian businesses to drive solutions for a just, equitable and resilient transition, and currently, has close to 500 signatories across industry sectors.

CII-led delegation participated in the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29), held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11-22, 2024. The report, ‘CII at COP29

Negotiations: Indian Industry Expectations', launched at the Conference, emphasises a balanced approach that incorporates both mitigation and adaptation, acknowledging the need for a more equitable and effective climate finance framework to close the climate finance gap and facilitate climate-resilient growth.

The Centre in collaboration with CEEW (Council for Energy, Environment and Water) launched the report on ‘Building Climate Resilience for Indian Industry' at the 19th Sustainability Summit. The report has developed a Physical Climate Risk Assessment Framework (PCRAF) to assess and quantify climate risks for Indian businesses and their value chains.

In collaboration with Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the Centre is actively contributing to the formulation of the National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases related to the Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU) sector as part of India's fourth National Communications (NATCOM) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 1st Biennial Transparency Report under the NATCOM project, guided by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The India Plastics Pact (IPP), launched in September 2021, is uniting businesses, NGOs, and citizens behind four ambitious time-bound targets to help realise a vision of a world where plastic is valued and doesn't pollute the environment. The Pact is the first in Asia and joins a global network of 13 Plastics

Pacts. 53 organisations are signatories to the Pact and have committed to the Pact's 2030 Targets for a circular plastics economy. Some of the key reports launched by IPP during the year include: – ?Roadmap for managing films and flexible packaging in India – ?Design for recycling guidance for films and flexible packaging and Landscape assessment:

Reuse models in India.

The Centre partnered with the Ministry of Environment, ForestandClimateChange(MoEFCC)forstreamlining implementation of environmental reforms, thereby fostering circular economy, transparency and enhancing natural resource management. During the year the Centre partnered with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to develop standards related to waste management, sustainability, environmental management and ecological priorities. The Centre also worked with the Central Pollution Control Board to resolve challenges related to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations under the rules for plastics, e-waste, battery and hazardous waste management.

During the year, CII signed an MoU with the All-India Plastics Manufacturing Association to encourage action, knowledge sharing, and awareness between larger businesses and MSMEs.

Since 2020, CII has been working across various sectors and has successfully supported over 260 sites in achieving SuP-free (single-use plastic-free) certification.

During the year, the Centre hosted the first edition of the CII Circular Economy Conference and launched the CII Sustainable Plastic Packaging Awards for recognising upstream innovations and changes in design of plastic packaging by businesses, driving the transition towards a circular plastics economy in India.

The India Business and Biodiversity Initiative (IBBI) participated in consultation meetings for updating the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), and for adoption of National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs) in alignment with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). At COP16 to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Colombia, India launched its updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP).

IBBI was designated by the MoEFCC as the responsible agency for Target 15 of India's updated NBSAP. Target 15 focuses on sustainable production, supply chains, and disclosure of risks, aiming to ensure businesses manage biodiversity risks effectively.

‘India CEO Forum for Clean Air' is a dedicated platform aiming to galvanise Indian businesses to t ake forward clean air agenda in India and promote focused actions through collective leadership of Industry sub-sectors. The Forum led by 123 business leaders, contribute towards making the air quality in India better through the Crop Residue Management (CRM) and through city-level awareness activities. In the last six years the programme has led to saving of

12 million kg fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5).

To enhance the ecosystem for Electric Vehicle (EV), CII facilitated industry inputs for 3 key Working Groups under the newly formed National EV Task Force of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI).

As part of SEBI's Industry Standards Forum (ISF), CII formed a Core Group and held consultations to develop Standards for Reporting on Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) Core. The recommendations made by CII on the SEBI Consultation Paper – ‘Recommendations of the Expert Committee for Facilitating Ease of Doing Business with respect to BRSR' were accepted by the regulatory body.

To help Indian organisations navigate ESG compliances and go beyond compliance, CESD launched SaaS based ESG Subscription Service at the 19th Sustainability Summit.

The Eco Edge initiative of the Centre aims at integrating sustainability in the value chains of companies. The focus areas include Decarbonisation, Circularity, Health & Safety, and Human Rights. The programme evaluates the performance of sourcing companies and their value chain partners. During the year, more than 200 suppliers' sustainability performance was assessed through the Eco Edge programme for the automotive and energy sectors. For further adoption the Eco Edge Online Assessment Tool was also launched.

The 19th Sustainability Summit, Centre's flagship annual event, was organised with the theme of Driving Change for a Sustainability Conscious World. The Summit deliberated on tangible actions in driving sustainable change and highlighted inspiring actions that exemplify the power of innovation, development, and cooperation in shaping a prosperous future for all.

Through the CII–ITC Sustainability Awards, 35 organisations were recognised for excellence in sustainable business practices. The Awards are a part of the continued efforts of the Centre to create awareness on sustainability practices and to create capacities in business.

To help industry manage climate risk, leverage market opportunities and become climate resilient, CII instituted a CAP 2.0? (Climate Action Programme) to build capacity of industry and recognise best practices and innovation on climate action.

The CAP 2.0? awards are the first one in India to recognise industry's efforts on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The awards in its 3rd edition recognised 21 organisations for their pioneering work in managing climate change.

The Centre trained nearly 400 professionals from 300+ organisations on sustainable business practices through 25 sessions conducted during the year.

Your Company's overarching commitment towards creating significant and sustainable societal value is manifest in its CSR initiatives that embrace the most disadvantaged sections of society, especially in rural India, through economic and social empowerment based on grassroots capacity building. Your Company has a comprehensive CSR Policy outlining programmes, projects and activities that your Company undertakes to create a significant these programmes fall within the purview of Section 135 read with Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014.

The key tenets of your Company's CSR interventions are: – deep engagement in identified core operational geographies to promote holistic development and interventions designed in order to respond to the most significant development challenges of your

Company's stakeholder groups.

– strengthening capabilities of Implementation Partners / Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in all project catchments for participatory planning, ownership and sustenance of interventions.

– facilitating the development agenda in a manner that is inclusive and empowers women, the poor and marginalised communities including persons with disability in the vicinity of your Company's factories and agri-catchments, thereby significantly improving

Human Development Indices (HDI).

– ensuring behavioural change through focus on demand generation for all interventions, thereby enabling participation, contribution and asset creation for the community.

– pursuing the Prototype-Pilot-Scale-Amplification approach to incorporate innovative and differentiated design elements in a structured manner, whilst also striving for amplification of successful interventions by partnering with Government and Collaboratives. Your Company's stakeholders are confronted with multi-dimensional and inter-related concerns, at the core of which is the challenge of securing sustainable livelihoods. Your Company undertakes periodic stakeholder engagements in the form of community need assessments, impact assessments and other evaluations. During the year, your Company undertook 48 such community engagements across 14 states where your Company's Social Investments Programme is being implemented, for the purpose of understanding grievances if any, of the community members. Further, over 3,000 household surveys were also conducted during the year. Accordingly, interventions under positive impact on identified stakeholders. All your Company's Social Investments Programme have been appropriately designed to build capacities and promote sustainable livelihoods. Your Company's Social Investments Programme follows the Two Horizon approach that focuses on inclusive growth and holistic development of households; with women and poor & vulnerable communities at the core.

In addition to being beneficiaries of several programmes, women are also influencers and active participants in grassroot institutions. Several such women also act as change makers in the society.

The Two Horizon approach provides an integrated and affirmative lives and landscapes. Whilst Horizon-I focuses on strengthening and sustaining livelihoods of communities (primarily agriculture and allied sector livelihoods); Horizon-II focuses on building capabilities and capacities to empower communities for a better life for the future. The footprint of your Company's CSR projects is spread across 24 states/Union Territories covering over 300 districts.

Your Company's CSR interventions were conferred with three prestigious awards and recognitions during

FY 2024-25:

– First Prize in FICCI Sustainable Agriculture Awards 2024 in the ‘Natural Resource Management and Climate Resilient Agriculture' category for the Climate Smart Village Programme

– IIT Madras CSR Awards 2024 under the theme ‘Technology-Driven Inclusive Social Impact' for deployment of technology in Climate Smart Agriculture

– ‘Gold' Prize in Financial Express Green Sarathi Award 2024, in the Water Stewardship category

The Water Stewardship programme aims to facilitate water security for all dependents in the factory catchments and to drought-proof the agri-catchments to minimise risks to agricultural livelihoods arising from drought and moisture stress. The programme is aligned to Jal Shakti Abhiyan, the flagship initiative of Government of India for water conservation. The programme promotes the development and management of local water resources in moisture-stressed areas by facilitating community participation in planning and implementing such measures, as well as building, reviving and maintaining water-harvesting structures and thus conserving the wetland ecosystems. In addition to rural and agri focus, two urban water programmes are also being implemented in Bengaluru and Chennai aimed at addressing the challenges associated with urban water. These programmes facilitate revival of urban water bodies, targeted recharge of shallow aquifers and promotion of practices like roof water harvesting and water efficient taps.

To address the magnitude of water stress, your Company has alsoresponse extendedtowaterdevelopment stewardshipbyworktransforming to river basin level interventions so that the competing demands from neighbouring areas of our catchments are addressed and a more holistic and sustainable impact created. Work done in four river basins till date in Maharashtra (Ghod basin), Madhya Pradesh (Kolans basin), Tamil Nadu (Upper Bhawani basin) and Telangana (Murreru basin) have resulted in the basins achieving water positive status, as against the water deficit estimated in baseline studies. Work has started in the fifth basin in Karnataka (South Pennar basin), based on the recommendations from the river basin study done through Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

The coverage of water stewardship programme currently extends to 59 districts of 17 states. During the year, the area under watershed increased by over 1.78 lakh acres, taking the cumulative coverage area to 18.16 lakh acres. Over 3,500 water-harvesting structures including ground water recharge structures were built during the year, creating 5.83 million kl of rainwater harvesting potential. The total number of water-harvesting structures reached to over 35,900 and the net water storage potential to over 59.90 million kl. In addition, as part of demand management intervention, your Company continues to work with farmers to achieve ‘more crop per drop' by promoting agronomic practices and micro irrigation techniques targeted towards saving water in cultivation and improving farmer incomes. Over 18 lakh acres across more than 15 crops in 12 states have been covered during the year as part of demand management. Studies have been conducted by ICAR's Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Kanpur, Indian Institute of Rice Research, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Vasantdada Sugar Institute to estimate water savings in rice, wheat, sugarcane, coconut and banana in your Company's programme locations. Basis these studies and other research documents, it is estimated that the demand management practices promoted by your Company have led to potential water savings to the tune of over 1,400 million kl during the year.

To improve water use efficiency, also have been initiated to test efficacy of technologies like organic hydrogel, mobile drip system and smart irrigation switches.

Additionally, your Company is continuing existing partnerships and forging new ones with multiple state Government departments for Water Stewardship. Your Company has signed three new partnerships during the year with:

Water Resource Department, Government of Maharashtra for Securing Godavari, Krishna and

Tapi river basins flowing in Maharashtra by promoting

Water Literacy among the Water User Associations in 60 irrigation projects across 20 districts in these basins which will improve water resources.

Department of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj (RDPR), Government of Karnataka and Vyakti Vikas Kendra India, for Water Resources Development in South Pennar river basin to work on water stewardship programme in 12 Taluks and 238 Gram Panchayats in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Kolar & Chikkaballapur districts of Karnataka.

Watershed Development and Soil Conservation Department, Government of Rajasthan, to promote sustainable livelihoods based on a watershed development project in 22 Gram Panchayats of Bundi and Jhalawar districts covering an area of 44,000 acres.

Driven by your Company's Water Stewardship programme, three Cigarette units at Pune, Bengaluru & Saharanpur, three Branded Packaged Foods units at Mysuru, Pune & Kapurthala, two Paperboards units at Kovai & Bhadrachalam and GLT unit at Mysuru have received AWS certifications in Platinum category till date.

The focus of the programme is on reviving ecosystem services provided to agriculture such as natural regulation of pests, pollination, nutrient cycling, soil health retention and genetic diversity, which have witnessed considerable erosion over the past few decades. The said programme is also aligned to Government of India's flagship initiatives such as National Mission for Sustainable Habitat and Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI). Biodiversity conservation is done through restoration of degraded village commons and native species tree planting in the catchments. During the year, your Company's biodiversity conservation initiative covered over 1.76 lakh acres in 40 districts across 10 states, taking the cumulative area under biodiversity conservation to over 6.47 lakh acres. While the conservation work is being carried out in village commons, this intervention significantly benefits the agricultural activity in the vicinity of these plots through soil moisture retention, carbon sequestration and by acting as host to insects and birds beneficial to agriculture. Two technical studies done earlier by ‘The Energy and Resources Institute' (TERI) & ‘IORA Ecological Solutions' have recorded improvement in carbon stocks, i.e., carbon sequestered by trees, as well as floral and faunal biodiversity compared to control areas. The project on mangroves conservation, which are important biodiversity reservoirs in coastal areas has been further strengthened. Initiated in Andhra Pradesh in FY 2023-24, another 1,000 acres was conserved during the year, thus taking the cumulative area to 1,500 acres. Alongside mangroves conservation, olive ridley turtle conservation was also taken up, wherein the eggs laid by turtles are protected from natural predators by moving them to hatcheries established along the coast and then releasing the hatchlings into sea. During the year, 9,200 turtle eggs were successfully hatched and released into the sea. To increase the coverage for pastureland development and biodiversity conservation, your Company has a partnership with AP Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department to improve livelihoods and conserve village commons in nine districts. Your Company also has a partnership with Wasteland & Pastureland Development Board (WPDB), Rajasthan targeting coverage of 2.5 lakh acres across eight districts. Till date, 1.75 lakh acres have been covered across 6,200 villages leveraging Government resources. In the partnership with Forest Department of Maharashtra, efforts towards soil and moisture conservation in the forest and fringe areas of Pune district was progressed with Department staff trained by your Company in planning and implementing the watershed work. Post training, Forest Department took up soil and moisture conservation works and tree plantation covering over 11,000 acres.

The Climate Smart Agriculture programme attempts to de-risk farmers from erratic weather events through the promotion and adaptation of a climate resilient approach premised on dissemination of relevant package of practices, adoption of appropriate mechanisation and provision of institutional services. The said programme is also aligned to Government of India's flagship initiative of The National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) and other schemes for the welfare of farmers including Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojana. Currently, 31.70 lakh acres spread over 100 districts across 19 states and 12 lakh farmers including over 1.87 lakh women farmers are covered under the programme. As per the studies done by reputed ICAR - Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Kanpur, the CSA practices promoted in rice and wheat crops together has demonstrated reduction of upto 21% in costs and upto 8% and 23% improvement in yields and incomes respectively as compared to conventional practices followed.

In pursuit of your Company's long-term sustainability objective of increasing Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), more than 6,300 compost units were constructed during the year, taking the total number till date to over 67,300 units. In addition to promotion of Climate Smart Agri practices at scale, in core agricultural catchments, your Company also has a Climate Smart Village (CSV) programme, wherein support is provided to majority of the village population to enable adaptation to climate risks, and mitigating the same through knowledge dissemination, natural resources management, livelihood diversification and institutional support. 7,000 CSVs covering major crop value chains are currently part of the programme. To provide additional support to farmers in dealing with climate risks, during the year, 17.65 lakh linkages were facilitated for farmers with six major Government schemes, taking the cumulative to over 42 lakhs.

Details of Climate Smart Agriculture interventions are also provided in the section on ‘Socio-Economic Environment'. Your Company continued work on two partnerships, one with Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Management covering 35 districts of Madhya Pradesh for Climate

Smart Watersheds, and the other with Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development, Department of Madhya Pradesh covering 6 districts. During the year, training was conducted by ITC for the officials,post which they have initiated work in 8,200 villages.

During the year, knowledge was disseminated through 13,500 Farmer Field Schools and over 17,600 Choupal Pradarshan Khets (CPKs). 1,850 Agri Business Centres (ABC) including 620 exclusive women ABCs delivered extension services, arranged agri-credit linkages, established collective input procurement and provided agricultural equipment for hire. Your Company, with its presence across multiple commodities and geographies including the e-Choupal network and agri extension programmes network, undertook an initiative to facilitate formation of new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and/or strengthening existing FPOs, thus enhancing farm incomes, rural livelihood and partnering in other relevant rural development initiatives. During the year, your Company supported additional 390 FPOs taking the cumulative number to 2,050 FPOs. The ‘Adarsh Gram Programme' pioneered by your Company's Agri Business presently covers 484 model villages in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Under this initiative, your Company supports villages to become economically, ecologically and socially sustainable. Your Company is also addressing the human rights and farm safety challenges in these villages by educating the farmers, labour & community, providing access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and adopting smart technologies like drones for spraying activities on the farms.

The purpose of the programme is to improve income and de-risk livelihoods of rural households by strengthening animal dependant livelihood options. Capability building on improved package of practices, breed improvement, provision of extension services and creation of rural entrepreneurs to provide doorstep services are the key components. Programme is aligned to Government of India's National Livestock Mission (NLM). The programme coveredlivelihoodslinkedtolargeruminants(cow&buffalo), small ruminants (goat & sheep), piggery, fishery, poultry and apiary in 16 states and 42 districts. During the year, about 1.34 lakh artificial inseminations (AIs) were carried out which led to the birth of over 0.47 lakh high yielding progeny and indigenous breeds. Cumulatively, the figures for AIs and calving stand at over 30.90 lakhs and 10.90 lakhs respectively. Under the programme, 1,870 women trained as ‘Pashu Sakhis' have provided extension services to animal owners of the villages. Your Company is also working with dairy farmers in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to improve productivity of animals through several extension services and to facilitate higher milk production. Qualified teams comprising veterinarians and para-veterinarians have been deployed to facilitate animal nutrition, animal health services, training and capacity building towards improving productivity, clean milk production and promoting commercial dairy farming among farmers. During the year, about 38,000 animals of over 19,000 dairy farmers across 416 villages in nine districts of Bihar, three districts of West Bengal and two districts in Jharkhand were supported through cattle feed distribution, training programmes on clean milk production, mastitis control and animal husbandry services like deworming, ectoparasite control, etc.

Your Company's pioneering initiative through the Social Forestry programme covered over 37,300 acres during the year. The said programme is also aligned to Government of India's National Afforestation Programme objectives. It is currently spread across 16 districts in six states cumulatively covering 5.28 lakh acres in over 7,400 villages and 1.90 lakh poor households. Integral to the Social Forestry programme are the Agro-Forestry and Bund plantation models that help small and marginal farmers to cultivate field crops and trees together in the same field and realise benefits of both annual income from crops and lumpsum income from trees once in four years. These two models cumulatively extended to over 2.68 lakh acres (part of total Social Forestry area) and enabled food, fodder and wood security. To create an additional income source and improve resilience towards climate change, fruit and other commercial species tree plantations have also been initiated with farmers, which have covered over 40,000 acres till date.

Together with your Company's Farm Forestry programme, this initiative has covered around 13.2 lakh acres till date and generated over 240 million-person days of livelihood for rural households, including women, poor tribal and marginal farmers. Further, fast growing, high yielding and disease resistant hybrid clones and saplings of eucalyptus pulpwood developed by your Company deliver significantly higher productivity vis-a-vis earlier clones. The clones have been developed to grow under varying ecological conditions, thereby building resilience and contributing towards increasing income for the farming community. Besides enhancing farm level employment, generating incomes and increasing green cover, these large-scale initiatives also contribute meaningfully to the nation's endeavour to create additional carbon sinks for tackling climate change.

In addition to the above, the Social and Farm Forestry initiative of your Company, through a multiplier effect, has led to improvement in pulpwood and fuelwood availability in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha.

During the year, this initiative in catchment geographies provided a range of gainful livelihood opportunities to over 2.67 lakh poor women, taking the cumulative coverage to over 4.51 lakhs through livelihood interventions for Self Help Groups (SHGs), women in agriculture and allied services, cadre of service providers in the community and ultra-poor women. This initiative is also aligned to National Rural Livelihoods Mission's objective of empowering and creating Lakhpati Didis. Targeting Hardcore Poor programme focusing on empowering ultra-poor women through mentoring, skilling to run enterprises and asset support for the same has covered about 40,680 women in your Company's core catchments through a two-year graduation intervention. Studies have shown that the income of these ultra-poor women has increased by more than five-fold.

Aided by the programme, there is also a substantial improvement in Human Development Indicators.

Currently, the programme is operational in 10 districts in eight states.

As an amplification strategy, the financial literacy and inclusion project, in partnership with Madhya Pradesh

State Rural Livelihood Mission (MPSRLM) and CRISIL Foundation continued in its second phase of partnership covering all 52 districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Basis the learnings in MP, the programme continued to expand to other states also, now covering over 98,900 existing SHGs with 10 lakh members. The Financial Literacy programme has cumulatively covered over 3.9 lakh SHGs benefiting over 38.50 lakh women spread across 80 districts in 15 states. Over 31 lakh scheme linkages for trained women have also been facilitated with access to bank accounts and Government social security schemes till date with the support of self-sustaining cadre of Yojana Sakhis, who also earn by charging fees from women for creating these linkages.

Your Company's ‘Aashirvaad Raho 4 Kadam Aage' programme is encouraging women empowerment by providing skills related to food processing sector as well as on other livelihood opportunities. Spread across four states, the programme has covered over 30,700 women beneficiaries.

The Primary Education programme aligned with National

Education Policy 2020, aims to provide children from weaker sections of society access to education with focus on learning outcomes and retention. Operational in 50 districts of 15 states, the programme covered over 6.57 lakh children during the year, taking the cumulative coverage to over 21.80 lakh children. Further, 125 Supplementary Learning Centres (SLCs) has remained operational during the year, mainstreaming more than 4,000 out-of-school children into the formal education system, taking the cumulative number to over 16,800.

Considering importance of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) as per National Education Policy 2020, building capabilities of Anganwadi Sevikas on ECCE has also been one of the focus areas. Your Company has partnered with Women Development and Child Welfare Department in Andhra Pradesh to strengthen capacity of over 55,600 Anganwadi Sevikas across all the 26 districts. Through a cascade approach, the Sevikas have reached out to 4.16 lakh children during the year. Your Company is also having a similar partnership in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, for improving ECCE (Poshan Bhi, Padhai Bhi) of children by combining nutrition and education interventions and has covered 50,000 children in the district.

Over 640 Government primary schools and Anganwadis were provided infrastructure support comprising boundary walls, additional classrooms including operationalising smart classrooms, solarisation, sanitation units and furniture, taking the total number of Government primary schools and Anganwadis covered till date to over 4,100. Infrastructure support to Government schools has helped in increasing enrolment, particularly of girls, in schools. To ensure sustainable operations and maintenance of infrastructure provided, more than 1,480 School Management Committees and 1,370 Child Cabinets & Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Committees were operational in various schools during the year with active involvement of students and teachers. To address the issue of drop out, especially of girls in secondary and senior secondary level, a pilot intervention continued in Pudukkottai, Munger and Kolkata covering 2,500 girl students. Mentoring for career intentionality, building 21st century skilling and mainstreaming out of school girls through National Open Schooling System are the major aspects of this intervention. Your Company's ‘Bounce of Joy' programme is aimed to foster holistic development and create a positive impact on children's lives through physical fitness including sports. Execution of the programme is done by collaborating with schools for training of Physical Education (PE) teachers to help them foster holistic development amongst students through sports like football. Through the trained teachers, the programme has reached out to 43,450 students across 140 schools in two states.

Your Company's ‘Sunfeast Bigger Fantasies' programme has covered 55,970 children from 60 schools across two states encouraging and nurturing their innate curiosity and ability to think laterally. 1,500 Young instructors were trained, who in turn engaged with these children to encourage creative thinking & expression, and peer learning & collaboration. 60 creativity fairs were also conducted with active participation from students.

This programme, aligned to Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana provides training in market linked skills to youth from marginalised sections including differently abled, to enable them to engage in decent livelihoods. 15,600 youth across 34 districts in 16 states were trained under different courses during the year, of which nearly 52% were female. Cumulatively, around 1.27 lakh youth have been trained under the skilling programme. To scale up the skilling programme, your Company has also initiated pilots for potential pathways of skilling in the community itself (1,700 trained in the year) and leveraging other skill training partners in the ecosystem (893 in the year). Further, the programme for skilling differently abled youth running in Karnataka and West Bengal last year, was expanded to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha by establishing new centres and also leveraging the existing centres of implementing partners. During the year, 850 youth (cumulatively over 1,000) were trained and over 530 have already been placed. Further, your Company's Sixth Sense programme, focused on making an impact on the lives of visually challenged, covered 150 such individuals across five cities.

Your Company continues to adopt a multi-pronged approach towards improving public health and hygiene across 30 districts and 13 states. The programme focuses on ensuring sustainability of Open Defecation Free (ODF) habitations and then making them ODF+ through improved hygiene, sanitation and waste management practices which is aligned with Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme was implemented in schools that included construction of sanitation units in schools, separate for girls and boys, and also focused on driving behaviour change among over 1.13 lakh school students through 2,300 WASH campaigns.

Your Company's ‘Savlon Swasth India Mission' programme has been a front runner in driving behavioural change in hand hygiene through innovative experiential training in primary schools. The Mission rooted in the belief of ‘Swasth Bacche, Mazboot Desh' drove a range of initiatives to aid and enable the country in its fight against preventable infections that create huge economic burden on the country.

The programme, focused on spreading awareness for habit building of hand hygiene through interactive sessions across India, covered 16,770 schools and reached out to about 32 lakh children during the year.

Your Company's initiatives focus on creating replicable, scalable and sustainable models of municipal and rural waste management that can be implemented across the country to ensure that minimal waste goes to landfills.

Details of these models are provided in the section on 'Building a Circular Economy for Post-Consumer Packaging' above.

Your Company is adopting a holistic approach towards Community Healthcare, focusing on two major components - preventive health care and curative services. Community healthcare is initiated to address the challenges of awareness, availability, accessibility and affordability. The objective of the initiative is to improve health and nutrition by strengthening institutional capacity, supplementing existing infrastructure, promoting greater convergence with existing Government schemes like National Health Mission, leveraging technology and increasing access to basic primary and secondary healthcare services. A two-pronged approach aligned to Government's POSHAN Abhiyan was adopted under Maternal and Child

Health and Nutrition (MCHN) programme:

Focusing on first ‘1,000 days of life' in high malnutrition catchments covering mothers and children, and

Addressing anaemia at scale among all age groups through screening under Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB), Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Karyakaram (RBSK) and thereafter, loop closure through awareness creation and linkages with Government schemes. Capacity building of frontline resources like Anganwadi Sevikas and ASHA workers is an integral part of the intervention and 16,000 were trained during the year on engagement with community, making effective ‘six home visits' and localised nutrition promotion. Screening of over two lakh women and children for anaemia was done in partnership with Government for baselining and identifying priority areas for interventions. A 4E approach of identifying hotspots (Exploration); awareness on dietary diversity and hygiene (Education); promoting nutrition gardens and consumption of locally grown ‘5 Food Groups' through nutri-groups (Encouraging); and building capabilities of ASHA and Anganwadi Sevikas on identification and management of anaemia (Empower) was adopted to address the issue. Around 15.24 lakh people spread across 21 districts in nine states were covered during the year, under your Company's MCHN initiative aimed at improving the health-nutrition status of women, adolescents and children. This included the partnerships with the Directorate of Women and Child Development, Assam for eight districts including seven aspirational districts, and another with the Child Development Services and Nutrition Department Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Project Samposhan was undertaken during the year to sensitise the community on nutritional value of fruits and vegetables,leveragingtheirexistingagricultureexpertiseto cultivate sustainable and healthy food. 40 youth trained as Poshan Sathis engaged with over 1,000 rural households and trained them on farming system for nutrition and setting up nutrition gardens. SHGs and farmer collectives were also strengthened to create local ecosystem for nutrition products. Iodine deficiency is considered as one of the most common causes of preventable mental impairment and constitutes a significant

Under the ‘Aashirvaad Smart India' intervention, over seven lakh people were reached out through awareness on iodine deficiency disorders and healthy eating.

As part of the community healthcare programme ‘ITC Swaasth Kiran' initiative was launched during FY 2021-22 in Saharanpur and Munger districts. Under the initiative, during the year, thirteen Mobile Medical Units (MMU) were functional (seven in Saharanpur & six in Munger). These MMUs have provided free medical consultation and medicines to the rural community at their doorstep. During the year, nearly 2.22 lakh individual engagements were done with community members across 796 villages, 58% of which were with women. Further, 43,400 diagnostic tests were conducted and 1,130 referrals made during the year. With the involvement of the Rogi Kalyan Samitis, upgradation of 23 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) based on Indian Public Health Standard was also done, taking the cumulative to

37 in five states. This has helped in increased footfall of patients, including higher number of institutional deliveries. Understanding the need for high-quality doorstep eye care for the community, your Company also continued its innovative layered eyecare intervention in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, as part of which four Mobile Vision Units (MVU) were operational in services in rural Saharanpur. These MVUs equipped with high end ophthalmic equipment can screen and diagnose eye ailments such as Cataract, Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma and other diseases. During the year, more than 1.76 lakh community members have been screened, of which 16,589 cases were referred to the MVUs, and thereafter 1,082 cataract surgeries done at Dr. Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital in Saharanpur, who are the partner for this intervention.

Your Company continued to enhance awareness on various health related issues like menstrual & personal hygiene, reproductive health and diarrhoea through a network of 366 women Village Health Champions (VHCs). These VHCs engaged with the community for promoting behaviour change and selling relevant health products to the community, thereby also earning a livelihood. The programme was operational in two districts of Madhya Pradesh and six districts of Uttar Pradesh, covering nearly 1.45 lakh women during the year. public health problem.

To make potable water available to local communities in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purification plants were set up in villages wh ere the water quality was poor. With the establishment of 36 new RO plants during the year, a total of 205 RO plants are operational providing safe drinking water to over 2.5 lakh rural population.

The ITC Sangeet Research Academy (ITC SRA), established in 1977, is an embodiment of your Company's sustained commitment to a priceless national heritage. Your Company's pledge towards ensuring enduring excellence in Classical music education continues to drive ITC SRA in furthering its objective of preserving and propagating Hindustani Classical Music based on the age-old principle of ‘Guru Shishya Parampara'. The Academy is modelled as a professionally run institution that epitomises the teaching of Hindustani Raga Music. Through its eminent Gurus, it imparts intensive training and quality education in Hindustani Classical music to its scholars. The present Gurus of the Academy are Padma Bhushan Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Padmashri Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Pandit Partha Chatterjee, Vidushi Subhra Guha, Pandit Uday Bhawalkar, Shri Omkar Dadarkar, Shri Abir Hossain and Shri Brajeswar Mukherjee. Pandit Uday Bhawalkar was conferred the Rashtriya Kalidas Samman by Government of Madhya Pradesh in November 2024 for the year 2022-23. The Academy's focus continues to be on nurturing exceptionally gifted students selected from across the country through a system of multi-level auditions. Several scholars of the Academy have performed at various music festivals and have also been recipient of prestigious awards and accolades. Additionally, the Academy has presented its scholars and young musicians in ITC Mini Sangeet Sammelans, concerts and Baithaks in locations such as Jabalpur, Hubli, Dharwad, Sirsi, Lucknow, Jodhpur, Dehradun, Goa, Pune and Bangalore enabling the Academy to fulfil its avowed objective of preserving and propagating Hindustani Classical Music. On the occasion of India's 78th Independence Day, ITC SRA composed a special piece of music as a tribute to the nation, which was presented on 15th August.

The video ‘Desh Ek Raag' was based on Raag Desh and featured scholars of the Academy. The year also marked its first Thumri Festival in March 2025 featuring renowned artists of the genre as well as scholars of the Academy. Creation of the next generation of masters of Hindustani Classical music for the propagation of a precious legacy continues to be the Academy's objective.

Your Company's Social Investments Programme lays continuous emphasis on building partnerships of value for driving innovation & gaining contemporary knowledge while effectively amplifying and executing programmes. Your Company has over the years formed Knowledge Partnerships with several national & international organisations/agencies to maintain contemporariness and leverage latest knowledge/technical know-how to continuously improve the quality of programmes.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), aimed at pooling resources, and partnership with Governments are effectively leveraged to scale-up and amplify programmes implemented in your Company's catchment areas. During the year, three new PPPs were signed.

The meaningful contribution made by your Company's Social Investments Programme to address some of the country's key development challenges, has been possible in significant partnerships with implementation partners such as AFPRO, Anudip Foundation, Bandhan Konnagar, Cheshire Disability Trust, DHAN Foundation, Don Bosco Tech Society, DSC, Dr. Reddy's Foundation, Educate Girls, FES, FINISH, IGD, KHPT, MYKAPS, MYRADA, Makkala Jagriti, Manav Vikas Sansthan, NCHSE, Pratham, SEWA Bharat, SMGVS, Umang, WASH Institute, Water for People, Youth4Jobs and Youth Invest amongst others. These partnerships, which bring together the best-in-class management practices of your Company and the development experience and mobilisation skills of implementation partners, will continue to provide innovative grassroot solutions to some of India's most challenging problems of development in the years to come.

The annual report on Corporate Social Responsibility activities, as required under Sections 134 and 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 8 of the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 and Rule 9 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014, is provided in the Annexure forming part of this Report.

Your Company's Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) strategies are directed towards achieving the greenest and safest operations across all your Company's units by optimising natural resource usage and providing a safe and healthy workplace. Systemic efforts continue to be made towards natural resource conservation by continuously improving resource-use efficiencies.

Your Company believes that a safe and healthy work environment is a pre-requisite for ensuring employee well-being and adopting best practices in occupational health & safety bears a direct impact on overall performance. With an aim to percolate safety deeper into your Company's operational practices and achieve the ‘Zero Accident' goal, your Company has adopted a comprehensive EHS strategy founded on two pillars:

‘Safety by Design' and ‘Safety by Culture'.

Your Company sustained focus on ‘Safety by Design' by continuously striving to improve safety performance and incorporating best-in-class engineering standards for all investments in the built environment. Designs for all new greenfield & brownfield project investments are scrutinised to ensure compliance with relevant standards and codes on safety. Periodic Environment, Health & Safety audits continue to be carried out in operational units to verify compliance with relevant standards.

To drive a culture of safety, your Company, in addition to comprehensive focus on training, continues to hold structured conversations with workers on ‘Safe and Unsafe' Acts. These are supplemented by adoption of keystone behaviours that inculcates individual ownership for safe behaviour. Your Company has also made use of Design Thinking principles for seamless integration of safety in business operations. These initiatives are bringing in positive behavioural changes.

Several national awards and certifications received by various units reaffirm your Company's commitment to provide safe and healthy workplace to all.

Your Company's state-of-the-art Life Sciences and Technology Centre (LSTC) in Bengaluru is at the core of driving science-led product innovation to build and support your Company's portfolio of world-class products and brands. Over the years, LSTC has emerged as a robust innovation engine that is a key enabler of the ‘ITC Next' growth strategy. Reinforced with world-class infrastructure, resourced with a diverse team of over

400 highly qualified scientists, LSTC continues to drive various initiatives to provide differentiation and competitive edge to your Company's brands and products.

Driving purposeful innovations that fulfil the needs of the

Indian consumer through superior offerings remains the key objective of LSTC. Centres of Excellence across domains viz. Biosciences, Agri-sciences & Materials sciences enabled building capabilities over the years to cater to the constantly evolving needs of consumers.

Focused research across identified domains viz. Health

& Wellness, Formulation Design, Sustainable Materials & Packaging, Agro-forestry and Crop Science has enabled the teams to harness contemporary advances in relevant core areas to translate ‘proofs of concept' to novel product opportunities. Bearing testimony to LSTC's innovation capabilities while building the intellectual assets for your

Company, over 800 patent applications have been filed till date. Robust risk management practices are in place to ensure that your Company's intellectual properties remain adequately protected and to ensure mitigation of information and infrastructure risk. Research programmes and projects are structured through close alignment with the various Businesses of your Company resulting in a robust innovation pipeline. Additionally, in line with your Company's relentless focus on operational excellence and quality, each Business is mandated to continuously innovate on materials, processes and systems to enhance their competitiveness.

Your Company has been a forerunner in introducing first-to-market innovative products for Indian consumers.

In today's operating scenario of geopolitical tensions and inflationary pressures, LSTC scientists and product development teams continue to enable various ITC businesses to deliver a range of differentiated, superior quality products at competitive costs. Innovative science-based Platform projects have been developed to solve a range of consumer and technical product challenges. Novel technologies are continuously being leveraged to drive creation of healthier foods through systematic reduction in salt, sugar and fat without compromising on sensory attributes. Leading edge technology platforms in Personal Health & Hygiene, Health & Wellness continue to power innovation and develop next generation product offerings to serve emerging consumer needs. LSTC's unique competencies in Sustainable Materials and Packaging have enabled development of packaging options with high degree of recycled plastics content and novel barrier coating solutions to create next generation environmentally friendly packaging solutions. In Agro-Forestry and Crop Science, your Company's scientists have established different cutting-edge tools & technology platforms for improving tree & crop species of your Company's interests (like yield, quality, abiotic & biotic stress) for securing the raw material. Ongoing research has major emphasis on developing climate resilient crops and pulp wood species in order to address the security of raw material supplies across your Company's value chains and also ensuring enhanced farmer profitability.

Research on wheat and potato varietal securitisation are at advanced stages of deployment to achieve flexibility in sourcing of raw material, create region-specific blends and ensure robust agro-climatic adaptability for growing and sourcing raw materials closer to the factories at competitive costs, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint. Future-ready, alternate value chains that mitigate risks arising out of disruptions to existing sourcing models continue to be explored. LSTC has deployed various digital transformation tools at farm level to bring in predictive capability with agility. LSTC, in collaboration with the Agri and Branded Packaged Foods Businesses, endeavours to ensure that science-based ideas are fully integrated across the value chain from farm to fork. Infrastructure and capabilities are strengthened continuously keeping in pace with the global developments in science and technology. Expanding capabilities include spreading the acreage of new tree clones with superior properties, developing modern instrumentation for testing very low levels of actives or contaminants, measuring barrier properties (air and water permeability) of coated paper substrate, etc.

Rigorous systems, processes and industry best practices are continuously upgraded to secure quality certifications of the highest levels – a key enabler in delivering products that follow the highest standards in quality, safety and efficacy to the Indian consumer. All branded packaged foods manufacturing units of your Company not only have ISO quality certification but also follow the highest standards under the integrated food quality management system-FSSC 22000; these systems ensure adherence to internationally accepted quality standards in producing safe and high-quality food. All manufacturing units of the Branded Packaged Foods Businesses (including contract manufacturing units) operate in compliance with stringent food safety and quality standards. Your Company's food quality assurance laboratories are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) under ISO 17025, a global standard for testing and calibrating labs, which guarantees quality. Additionally, the quality of all FMCG products of your Company is monitored through best-in-class customer-centric ‘Quality Control and Quality Assurance Processes' and ‘Product Quality Ratings Systems' (PQRS) enhancing competitive superiority of your Company's product offerings.

In its quest to continuously enhance efficiency and be future-ready, LSTC is developing and deploying cutting-edge digital tools for quality performance analytics, benchmarking and strengthen quality management systems. Going forward, LSTC will continue to identify growth opportunities leveraging your Company's diverse core competencies and R&D insights emerging from close consumer interactions and contemporary science & technology.

In the proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate in 1997, the appropriate authority after hearing arguments on behalf of your Company has passed several orders in favour of your Company and dropped somehalf ofof the show cause notices issued by the Directorate. In respect of some of the remaining notices, your Company filed writ petitions challenging their validity. The Honourable Calcutta High Court heard some of these writ petitions to completion, and the proceedings in respect of these notices were quashed. The remaining writ petitions and notices are pending adjudication/hearing.

Meanwhile, some of the prosecutions launched by the Enforcement Directorate have been quashed by the Honourable Calcutta High Court; while the remaining have been challenged before the High Court and are pending.

Your Company's treasury operations continued to focus on deployment of surplus liquidity and management of foreign exchange exposures within a well-defined risk management framework.

During the year market interest rates declined sharply across both short and long term maturities. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) adopted an accommodative monetary policy stance, cutting the repo rate by a cumulative 50 basis points since April 2024 on the back of easing inflation and to boost economic activity. In addition, the RBI deployed several liquidity management tools, which pushed the banking system liquidity from a deficit position between November 2024 and February 2025 to a surplus by the end of the financial year. The decline in interest rates for longer maturities was further aided by robust demand from Foreign Portfolio Investors following the inclusion of Indian Government Securities in the JP Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index and an improving fiscal position.

Investment decisions relating to deployment of surplus liquidity continued to be guided by the tenets of Safety, Liquidity and Return. Treasury operations focused on proactive rebalancing of portfolio duration and mix, in line with the evolving interest rate environment. Further, continuous review and monitoring of credit worthiness, including engagement with market participants, ensured that the investment portfolio was not exposed to undue credit risks. In the currency market, the Indian Rupee (INR) witnessed significant remained relatively stable during the first year supported by strong domestic fundamentals and healthy capital inflows, the second half saw considerable two-way movements. The weakness in the INR was primarily attributed to the strengthening of the USD relative to all major currencies, driven by concerns over potential tariff hikes by the US Government. Additionally, higher capital outflows during this period weighed on the

INR. However, the INR witnessed a rebound towards the end of the year on the back of a narrowing trade deficit and a weakening USD amidst heightened global trade uncertainties. Robust foreign exchange reserves and strategic interventions in the currency markets by the RBI also provided support to the INR.

As in earlier years, commensurate with the size of the temporary surplus liquidity under management, treasury operations continue to be supported by appropriate internal control systems, and independent check of 100% of transactions by your Company's Internal Audit Department.

Your Company adopted proactive risk management approach and actively managed foreign currency exposures through appropriate hedging strategies and market instruments to protect business margins.

Your Company's erstwhile Public Deposit Scheme closed in the year 2000. As at 31st March, 2025, there were no deposits due for repayment except in respect of two deposit holders aggregating Rs 20000 which have been withheld on the basis of directives received from the government agencies.

There was no failure to make repayments of Fixed Deposits on maturity and the interest due thereon in terms of the conditions of your Company's erstwhile Schemes. Your Company has not accepted any deposit from the public/members under Section 73 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with the Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules, 2014 during the year.

During the year, Ms. Pushpa Subrahmanyam and Mr. Chandra Kishore Mishra were appointed, with your approval, as Independent Directors of the Company for a period of five years with effect from 2nd April, 2024 and

14th September, 2024, respectively. In the opinion of the Board, Ms. Subrahmanyam and Mr. Mishra possess the required integrity, expertise and experience for appointment as Independent Directors of your Company. Mr. Atul Singh representing Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Limited (‘TMI'), a subsidiary of British America Tobacco p.l.c., Dr. Alok Pande representing the Specified

Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (‘SUUTI') and Mr. Siddhartha Mohanty representing the Life Insurance Corporation of India (‘LIC') were appointed, with your approval, as Non-Executive Directors of your Company for a period of three years with effect from 2nd April, 2024, 27th July, 2024 and 1st January, 2025, respectively. Mr. Sunil Panray, who is representing TMI, was re-appointed, with your approval, as a Non-Executive

Director for a period of five years with effect from 20th December, 2024. Further, Messrs. Sumant Bhargavan and Supratim Dutta were re-appointed, with your approval, as Wholetime Directors of the Company for a period of two years from 12th July, 2025 and three years from 22nd July, 2025, respectively.

Mr. Shyamal Mukherjee will complete his present term as an Independent Director of your Company on 10th August, 2026. The Board of Directors of your Company (‘the Board'), on the recommendation of the Nomination

& Compensation Committee, has recommended for the approval of the Members, the re-appointment of Mr. Mukherjee as an Independent Director of your

Company for a period of five years with effect from

11th August, 2026. Appropriate resolution seeking your approval to the above is appearing in the Notice convening the 114th Annual General Meeting (‘AGM') of your Company.

Mr. Shilabhadra Banerjee completed his term as an Independent Director of your Company with effect from close of work on 29th July, 2024, and Mr. Arun Duggal and Ms. Meera Shankar completed their respective terms as Independent Directors with effect from close of work on 14th September, 2024. Mr. Rahul Jain, representing SUUTI, and Mr. Mukesh Gupta, representing LIC, stepped down from the Board with effect from 31st May, 2024 and 27th October, 2024, respectively. Your Directors place on record their appreciation for the contribution made by Messrs. Banerjee, Duggal, Jain, Gupta and Ms. Shankar during their respective tenure with your Company.

In accordance with the provisions of Section 152 of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘the Act') read with Articles 94 and 95 of the Articles of Association of your Company, Messrs. Hemant Malik and Atul Singh will retire by rotation at the ensuing AGM and being eligible, offer themselves for re-election. Your Board has recommended their re-election.

Six meetings of the Board were held during the year ended 31st March, 2025.

Attributes, Qualifications & Independence of Directors and their Appointment The Corporate Governance Policy of your Company requires that the Non-Executive Directors be drawn from amongst eminent professionals, with experience in business / finance / law / public administration and enterprises. The Nomination & Compensation Committee has laid down the criteria for determining qualifications, positive attributes and independence of Directors (including Independent Directors). In case of appointment of Independent Directors, the Nomination & Compensation Committee evaluates the balance of skills, knowledge and experience on the Board, and also the role and capabilities of an Independent Director of the Company. Further, in terms of the Policy on Board Diversity, the Board is required to have balance of skills, competencies, experience and diversity of perspectives appropriate to the Company. Diversity for this purpose is considered from a number of aspects including, but not limited to, educational & cultural background, nature of professional, administrative & industry experience, skills, knowledge and gender representation. The skills, expertise and competencies of the Directors as identified by the

Board, along with those available in the present mix of the Directors of the Company, are provided in the ‘Report on Corporate Governance' forming part of the Report and Accounts.

In terms of the applicable regulatory requirements read with the Articles of Association of your Company, the strength of the Board shall not be fewer than six nor more than eighteen. Directors are appointed / re-appointed with the approval of the Members for a period of three to five years or a shorter duration, in accordance with retirement guidelines and as may be determined by the Board from time to time. All Directors, other than IndependentDirectors,areliabletoretirebyrotation,unless otherwise approved by the Members. One-third of the Directors who are liable to retire by rotation, retire every year and are eligible for re-election.

The Independent Directors of your Company have confirmed that (a) they meet the criteria of independence prescribed under Section 149 of the Act and Regulation 16 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (‘Listing Regulations'), (b) they are independent of the management of the Company, and (c) they are not aware of any circumstance or situation which could impair or impact their ability to discharge duties with an objective independent judgement and without any external influence. In the opinion of the Board, the Independent Directors fulfil the conditions prescribed under the Act and the Listing Regulations, and are independent of the management of the Company.

Details of the Company's Policy on remuneration of Directors, Key Managerial Personnel and other employees are provided in the ‘Report on Corporate Governance' forming part of the Report and Accounts.

Your Company has a structured process for performance evaluation of the Board, Board Committees and individual Directors. The Nomination & Compensation Committee, as reported in earlier years, has formulated the Policy on Board evaluation, evaluation of Board Committees' functioning and individual Director evaluation, and also specified that such evaluation will be done by the Board.

In keeping with ITC's belief that it is the collective effectiveness of the Board that impacts Company's performance, the primary evaluation platform is that of collective performance of the Board as a whole. Board performance is assessed, inter alia, against the roles and responsibilities of the Board as provided under the Act, the Listing Regulations and the Company's Governance Policy. The parameters for Board performance evaluation have been derived from the Board's core role of trusteeship to protect and enhance shareholder value as well as to fulfil expectations of other stakeholders through strategic supervision of the Company; such parameters include securing alignment of the Company's goals with the nation's economic, ecological and social priorities, ensuring that the Company has a clearly defined strategic direction for realisation of its vision, and supporting the Company's management to meet challenges arising from the operating & policy environment in the country. Evaluation of functioning of Board Committees is based on discussions amongst Committee members and shared by the respective Committee Chairmen with the Board. Individual Directors are evaluated in the context of the role played by each Director as a member of the Board at its meetings, in assisting the Board in realising its role of strategic supervision of the functioning of the Company in pursuit of its purpose and goals. The peer group ratings of the individual Directors are collated by the Chairman of the Nomination & Compensation Committee and made available to the Chairman of the Company. While the Board evaluated its performance against the parameters laid down by the Nomination & Compensation Committee, the evaluation of individual Directors was carried out against the laid down parameters in order to ensure objectivity. The parameters for performance evaluation of individual Directors, inter alia, include ability to provide thought leadership across the role spectrum and contribution to Board cohesion, governance & organisational processes. Reports on the functioning and performance of Board Committees during the year were placed before the Board. The Independent Directors Committee of the Board also reviewed the performance of the Chairman, other non-Independent Directors and the Board, pursuant to Schedule IV to the Act and Regulation 25 of the Listing Regulations.

During the year, there were no changes in the Key Managerial Personnel of your Company.

The composition of the Audit Committee is provided under the section ‘Board of Directors and Committees' in the Report and Accounts.

Messrs. S R B C & CO LLP, Chartered Accountants (‘SRBC'), were re-appointed with your approval as the Auditors of your Company for a period of five years till the conclusion of the 118th AGM. The Board, on the recommendation of the Audit Committee, has recommended for the approval of the Members, the remuneration of SRBC for the financial year 2025-26. Appropriate resolution seeking your approval to the remuneration of SRBC is appearing in the Notice convening the 114th AGM of your Company.

Your Board, as recommended by the Audit Committee, appointed the following Cost Auditors for the financial year 2025-26:

(i) Messrs. ABK & Associates, Cost Accountants, for audit of Cost Records maintained by your Company in respect of ‘Wood Pulp' and ‘Paper and Paperboard' products. (ii) Messrs. S. Mahadevan & Co., Cost Accountants, for audit of Cost Records maintained in respect of all applicable products of your Company, other than ‘Wood Pulp' and ‘Paper and Paperboard' products. Pursuant to Section 148 of the Act read with the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, appropriate resolutions seeking your ratification to the remuneration of the aforesaid Cost Auditors are appearing in the Notice convening the 114th AGM of your Company.

The Company maintains necessary cost records as specified by the Central Government under Section 148(1) of the Act read with the Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules, 2014.

Messrs. S. N. Ananthasubramanian & Co., Company Secretaries (‘SNA'), were appointed by the Board as the Secretarial Auditors of your Company to conduct secretarial audit for the financial year ended

31st March, 2025.

The Report of the Secretarial Auditors, pursuant to Section 204 of the Act, is provided in the Annexure forming part of this Report. The Secretarial Auditors have confirmed that the Company has complied with the applicable laws and that there are adequate systems and processes in the Company commensurate with its size and scale of operations to monitor and ensure compliance with the applicable laws.

The Board has approved, on the recommendation of the Audit Committee and subject to the approval of the Members, appointment of SNA as the Secretarial Auditors of your Company to conduct secretarial audit for a period of five financial years commencing from the financial year 2025-26. Appropriate resolution seeking your approval to the appointment of SNA is appearing in the Notice convening the 114th AGM of your Company.

During the year, 2,93,98,310 Ordinary Shares of Rs 1/- each, fully paid-up, were issued and allotted upon exercise of 29,39,831 Options under the Company's Employee Stock Option Schemes. Consequently, the Issued and Subscribed Share Capital of your Company, as on 31st March, 2025, stands increased to Rs 1251,41,19,781/- divided into 1251,41,19,781 Ordinary Shares of Rs 1/- each. The Ordinary Shares issued during the year rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company.

Disclosures with respect to Stock Options, as required under Regulation 14 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Share Based Employee Benefits and Sweat Equity) Regulations, 2021 (‘the Regulations'), are available in the Notes to the Financial Statements of the Company. The said disclosures forming part of the Financial Statements can also be accessed on the Company's corporate website http://www.itcportal.com under the section ‘Investor Relations'. During the year, there has been no change in the Company's Employee Stock Option Schemes.

The Secretarial Auditors have certified that the EmployeeStock Option Schemes of the Company have been implemented in accordance with the Regulations and the resolutions passed by the Members in this regard.

The Investor Service Centre of the Company (‘ISC') provides in-house share registration and related services to the shareholders and investors. By consistently adapting to emerging trends and leveraging digital technologies, ISC remains steadfast in its commitment to delivering best-in-class services to the shareholders and investors, while ensuring compliance with the applicable statutory requirements. ISC is accredited with

ISO 9001:2015 certification and is also registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India as a Category II Share Transfer Agent.

The ‘Investor Relations' section on the Company's corporate website http://www.itcportal.com serves as a user-friendly online resource for shareholders and investors, offering comprehensive guidance on share-related matters. Additionally, shareholders at their convenience can access a range of share-related services through the dedicated service portal at https://eform.itcportal.com .

All contracts or arrangements entered into by your Company with its related parties during the financial year were in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Listing Regulations. All such contracts or arrangements were approved by the Audit Committee. No material contracts or arrangements with related parties within the purview of Section 188(1) of the Act were entered into during the year under review. Further, the prescribed details of related party transactions of your Company in Form No. AOC – 2, in terms of Section 134 of the Act read with Rule 8 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 are given in the Annexure to this Report.

As required under Section 134 of the Companies Act, 2013, your Directors confirm having: a) followed in the preparation of the Annual Accounts, the applicable accounting standards with proper explanation relating to material departures, if any; b) selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of your Company at the end of the financial year and of the profit of your Company for that period; c) taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 for safeguarding the assets of your Company and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities; d) prepared the Annual Accounts on a going concern basis; e) laid down internal financial controls to be followed by your Company and that such internal financial controls were adequate and were operating effectively; and f) devised proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws and that such systems were adequate and operating effectively.

Your Company's Board of Directors is responsible for the preparation of the consolidated financial statements of yourCompany and its Subsidiaries (‘the Group'), Associates and Joint Venture entities, in terms of the requirements of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act) and in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards specified underSection 133 of the Act.

The respective Boards of Directors of the companies included in the Group and of its associates and joint venture entities are responsible for maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding the assets of each company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities; the selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Such financial statements have been used for the purpose of preparation of the consolidated financial statements by the Board of Directors of your Company, as aforestated.

The certificate Messrs. S R B C & CO LLP, confirming compliance with the conditions of Corporate Governance as stipulated under the Listing Regulations, is annexed.

Going Concern status or material order passed during Therewasnosignificant the year by any regulator, court or tribunal impacting the going concern status of your Company or its future operations.

The Annual Return of your Company is available on its corporate website at https://www.itcportal.com/investor/disclosures-under-SEBI.aspx .

Details of loans and investments covered under the provisions of Section 186 of the Companies Act, 2013 are provided in Notes 4, 5, and 9 to the Financial Statements. No guarantees were outstanding as at the year end.

Particulars as required under Section 134 of the Companies Act, 2013 relating to Conservation of Energy and Technology Absorption are also provided in the Annexure to this Report.

The Company is in compliance with the applicable Secretarial Standards issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and approved by the Central Government under Section 118(10) of the Act.

The total number of employees as on 31st March, 2025 stood at 22,041. The information required under Section 197(12) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 5(1) of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014 is provided in the Annexure forming part of this Report. The statement containing particulars of employees as required under Section 197(12) of the Companies from the Company's Statutory Auditors,

Act, 2013 read with Rule 5(2) of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014, forming part of this Report, is available on the Company's corporate website www.itcportal.com .

The Dividend Distribution Policy of your Company may be accessed on its corporate website at https://www.itcportal.com/about-itc/policies/dividend-distribution-policy.pdf .

Key Financial Ratios for the financial year ended 31st March, 2025, are provided in the Annexure forming part of this Report.

This Report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. When used in this Report, the words ‘anticipate', ‘believe', ‘estimate', ‘expect', ‘intend', ‘will' and other similar expressions as they relate to your Company and/or its Businesses are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Your Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Actual results, performances or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of their dates. This Report should be read in conjunction with the financial statements included herein and the notes thereto.

Your Company's ‘Triple Bottom Line' philosophy has over the years spurred the creation of innovative business models that synergise the building of economic, environmental and social capital. It is now universally evident 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. In line with its superordinate goal of serving larger national priorities and creating value for all stakeholders, your Company's paradigm of ‘Responsible Competitiveness' focuses on building extreme competitiveness in a manner that replenishes the environment and supports sustainable livelihoods. The strategic Vision of creating multiple drivers of growth through the pursuit of market opportunities that best match institutional strengths, has resulted in the development of strong Businesses of the future anchored on a portfolio of purpose-led brands, future-ready products and world-class quality. Today, your Company is the leading FMCG marketer in India, a pioneering trailblazer in farmer and rural empowerment through its Agri Business, the clear market leader in the Indian Paperboards and Packaging industry, and a global exemplar in sustainability. ITC Hotels Ltd.–a group entity–is a pre-eminent hotel chain and a globally acclaimed icon in green hoteliering. Since the turn of the millennium, your Company's non-cigarettes businesses¹¹ have grown nearly 40-fold and presently