Analysis of Sustainability Reports of ITC Limited and Indian Oil

Running Head: ECONOMICS1
Business, Society and the Planet
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Introduction
Business sustainability refers to the coordination and management of social, financial and
environmental concerns and demand so as to ensure ongoing, responsible and ethical success.
Business sustainability aims at addressing to main categories, that is to say, the effect of the
business on the society and environment. For the case of this paper, we are going to make an
analysis of two companies in India with sustainability reports. In addition, we are going to look
at the values of these companies. Further, their mode of operation will also be analyzed by
considering their differences in various issues (Holte et al, 2010).
Description of the companies
For the purpose of this paper, the selected companies include, ITC Limited and Indian
Oil. All of the two companies operate in India but have a different background. For ITC limited,
it deals in a number of businesses such as Cigarettes, lifestyle retailing, safety mechanisms,
incenses sticks, stationary and education products, personal care products, and packed food. The
business deals with various products which are in line with the increased growth of India’s
FMCG industry. The company has continuously ensured that it keepsin the market (James et al,
2015).ITC limited is considered among the most famous multi-businesses in India having a
market of $50 billion. In addition, the business is considered among the largest companies in the
world with core sustainability values in the industry of consumer goods. Currently, ITC limited
is ranked as the leading company making Consumer goods in India. Also, the agri-business of
ITC is largest in Indis because they are the greater exporters of different agricultural products
(Magee et al, 2013).On the other hand, the Indian Oil operates as the biggest company in the area
in regards to turnover making it the only company in India to be included in the "Fortune Global
500" listing. The company is monitored by the Ministry of Natural Gas and Petroleum of India.

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Around 90% of the company shares are owned by the state. The core business of
IndianOilCompany is refining, marketing, and transportation of different petroleum products.
The company's business has expanded to other countries such as the United Arab Emirates,
United States of America, Singapore, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka. Also, the company has been in
the position to set up operational offices in areas such as Bangladesh and Myanmar (Capra,
2015).
Similarities and differences of the reports
Similarities
Both the ITC limited and Indian Oil sustainability report indicate the activities of their
business. In this case, the Indian Oil report deeply concentrates on the business operation such as
refining, market distribution, pipeline, and natural gas and many others. Also, the ITC's
sustainability report indicates the various activities performed such as agriculture, food packing,
and many others. Therefore, both the company's' reports broadly illustrate their businesses
operations for each activity performed (Wandemberg, 2015).
The company's' sustainability reports clearly indicate their economic performances
annually. For example, Indian Oil indicates that it experienced an increase in the production of
natural gas from -1.09% in 2017 to 10.49 in 2018. This was a great improvement that the
company has ever experienced. The two companies broadly indicate the Performance of each
sector or product by illustrating their annual contribution to the business. Also, the capacity for
each activity done by the ITC and Indian Oil is indicated in the sustainability report (Bakari,
2017).

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The information in both sustainability reports is clearly illustrated. IN this case, the
companies used diagrams, to illustrate their business activities. In addition, the information in the
reports is clearly illustrated for each report making it relevant and important for analyzing the
sustainability of the two companies in India. All reports indicate their contribution to the
economic performance of India by illustrating their export performance (Maditati et al, 2018).
In both reports, graphs, charts, and tables are adopted to illustrate the various business
activities. For example, ITC limited used graphs to illustrate the financial contribution of the
government to the business. Also, Indian Oil Company used tables to illustrate its refining
capacity. Therefore, all the reports were structured with different graphs, charts, and tables so as
to clearly display their information (Fawcett et al, 2012).
Differences
For ITC's sustainability report, clearly indicates its boundary, scope, and profile unlike
Indian Oil Company. In this case, ITC's sustainability report indicates that “Sustainability Report
2018 has been prepared on the basis of the latest Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and
meets the In Accordance Comprehensive criteria". This makes the ITC sustainable report more
detailed as compared to the Indian oil report. In this case, the ITC report indicates the aims, and
performance of each sector unlike the Indian Oil report (Black et al, 2010).
In explaining various information, the ITC report mostly used pictures for evidence of the
information while the Indian oil report is more of graphs, tables, and charts. While illustrating
most of its business activities, performances, stakeholders and services, ITC limited mostly used
the picture. For an Indian Oil company, tables and graphs were the most used tools to display
various numerical data and structured information (Rakes, 2018).