A board meeting considered the unaudited results for the quarter to December 31, 2000, and announced a gross income of Rs 2,261.92 crore, showing an increase of 10.27 per cent from Rs 2,051.23 crore last year. Net income jumped by 15.62 per cent to Rs 1,136 crore from a low of Rs 982.56 crore in the third quarter of 1999-2000, a company release said.

Company officials clarified that the results did not take into account the excise issues disputed by the company.

The ITC board, at its meeting following the extra-ordinary general meeting Wednesday, appointed its 50-year old chief financial officer, Mr K Vaidyanath, as its new executive director in charge of finance. Mr Vaidyanath has risen through the ranks after joining ITC on January 16, 1976.

He had held various positions in the company, including the post of head of finance in ITC's packaging, hotels and international businesses. A company release says that he had been the chief of corporate planning, treasury and also internal audit.

For the nine months to December 31, 2000, ITC has reported a net profit of Rs 709.95 crore, up 25 per cent from Rs 567.51 crore in April-December 1999.

Net interest cost has gone down by a substantial 21.47 per cent from that in the same period a year ago.

The tobacco conglomerate reported a gross income of Rs 6,567.29 crore for the nine months as against Rs 5,978.40 crore in the year-ago period.

The company press release noted that improvement in operating margins had been sustained due to value-led strategy, which was backed by investments in technology and branding.

During the third quarter to December 31, 2000, net interest payout dropped by around 10 per cent to Rs 25.07 crore from Rs 27.75 crore in the third quarter of 1999-2000.

ITC's hotel occupancies improved while the premium brand, ITC Grand Maratha in Mumbai, is expected to open soon. The release also states that the other hotel projects are progressing satisfactorily.

The company's packaging and printing business reported a 36 per cent growth in exports and bagged the special export award by Capexil. ITC also started printing greetings cards as a separate business unit and launched its entire card range in all the metros.

During the quarter to December 31, 2000, agricultural exports were buoyant, according to the release. ITC's international business division and ITC Infotech India Ltd launched a bi-lingual website to web-enable the Indian coffee planters. The site provides real-time price and market information apart from advising on complex risk transfer mechanisms and access to various cash management tools.