ITC units to adopt triple bottomline reporting

ITC Ltd's individual divisions are expected to move over to triple bottomline reporting, a new benchmark for high-aspiring corporates globally, from this financial year, even as the tobacco and hotel major is close to becoming a water-positive company.

"Keeping in with the spirit of corporate social responsibility (CSR), we are looking beyond mere financial reporting "" beyond the balance sheet and profit and loss account," ITC executive vice-president environment, health and safety Subash Rustagi said here today.

Triple bottomline reporting is the basis on which a company's balance sheet would also show how it has deployed environmental and social capital.

A corporate, apart from its net profit and revenues, would also report on environment, health and safety under triple bottomline. ITC's farming, agriculture and IT divisions are expected to begin triple bottomline reporting from this year, he added.

The ITC group had been reporting its results under triple bottomline since the last fiscal. It is also edging close to becoming a water-positive organisation, he said.

The company's fresh water ingestion fell 6.6 per cent in 2003-04 to 22.48 million kilolitres from 24.10 million kl the organistion drew during the 12-month period of FY'03, he said.

The volume of treated effluents discharged was 14.04 million kl in 2003-04, as against 14.64 million kl during the previous year.

ITC's water consumption declined by 10.5 per cent from 9.49 million kl in 2002-03 to 8.44 million kl in 2003-04.

The company had also increased its rainwater harvesting facilities by 60 per cent in one year, from 0.24 million kl in 2002-03 to 0.39 million kl in 2003-04.

The rainwater harvesting capacity that ITC created through its integrated watershed management programme across the country, rose 66.66 per cent from 12.50 million kl in 2002-03 to 15.67 million kl in 2003-04.

ITC is also generating enough energy to meet 96.6 per cent of its total energy requirement of 11,439 terra joules a year, Rustogi said.

The energy generated from waste increased from 18 per cent in 2002-03 to 24 per cent in 2003-04.

The company sources only three per cent of its energy requirement from the grid, he added.

Paperboard manufacture is the most energy-intensive among ITC's various businesses, he claimed.

ITC's paperboard mill in Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh is among the most energy-efficient integrated paper mills in the world, he added.