ITC’s Classmate broadens beyond notebooks to defend relevance in digital-first India
Classmate is expanding into writing, art and digital-learning products while leveraging ITC’s paper supply chain and presence across general trade, e-commerce, quick commerce, D2C and schools.
What happened
ITC’s Classmate is expanding beyond notebooks into writing, art and digital-learning products, using ITC’s paper supply chain and distribution across trade,
Key facts
- Stationery market worth Rs 16,500 crore
- ITC FMCG FY25 revenue of Rs 219,81 crore
- Classmate consumer spends exceeding Rs 1,000 crore
- 11 interactive QR-code challenges
- Classmate launched in 2003
Why this matters
ITC should prioritize partnerships or acquisitions in edtech content, school platforms and creative-learning brands that make Classmate’s QR-enabled ecosystem more differentiated than a broad stationery assortment.
What to watch
- Launch cadence and SKU breadth in pens, art, craft, digital-learning and exam-prep categories.
- Evidence that QR scans convert into repeat monthly engagement rather than one-time campaign participation.
- School, coaching, publisher or edtech partnership announcements.
- Share of sales from e-commerce, quick commerce, D2C and institutional channels versus general trade.
- Premium-price acceptance, gross-margin trends and evidence of successful cross-selling into adjacent categories.
- Competitive responses from Navneet, DOMS, Cello, Reynolds, Camlin/Kokuyo, Flair and low-cost marketplace sellers.
- Growth in recycled, sustainable or customized stationery demand, which could favor ITC's paper-supply-chain advantage.
- Bundle notebooks with pens, art kits and exam-season products through school lists, D2C subscriptions and quick-commerce packs.
- Turn QR codes into a persistent student identity layer with study planners, practice content, rewards, contests and parent-facing progress tools.
- Use ITC's paper procurement and manufacturing scale to offer value-tier packs while reserving premium design, recycled-paper and digital-content features for higher-margin lines.
- Pursue school and coaching-center partnerships that make Classmate products part of recommended learning kits.
- Build marketplace and D2C first-party data capabilities to identify regional demand, academic-calendar spikes and cross-category conversion.
- Defend against digital substitution by positioning physical writing as part of productivity, creativity and exam preparation rather than as a commodity notebook purchase.