Deveshwar to step down from ITC

ITC’s chairman YC Deveshwar will move into a non-executive role sometime in the next five years

and that will allow a successor to step in. Deveshwar, an IIT graduate, joined ITC in 1968. He was appointed as a director on the company’s board in 1984 and has served as the chairman since January 1996. Between 1991 and 1994, he led Air India as chairman and managing director. When he took over as ITC chairman in January 1996, Deveshwar inherited several problems, ranging from tax evasion charges to a public spat with the company’s single largest shareholder, BAT plc, to investments that went awry. Deveshwar managed to put all of this behind, and managed to steer the company to new heights.

In his 15-year tenure, ITC’s top line has grown by more than six times, from Rs 5,000 crores to Rs 32,854 crores, while post-tax profits zoomed from Rs 260 crores to a shade shy of Rs 5,000 crores. ITC is a diversified fast-moving consumer goods company. It, completed 100 years last year, has come a long way from being a pure tobacco company to a well-diversified FMCG and is eyeing major investment opportunities over the next decade to spur growth in these areas. The company is eyeing investment prospects of Rs 8,000 crores over the next seven to 10 years in the FMCG sector spanning apparel, branded packaged food, education, stationery products, safety matches and incense sticks and personal care products. In the apparel space it’s known for the apparel brand Will’s Lifestyle. Wills Lifestyle has a chain of exclusive specialty stores providing a truly international shopping experience through world-class ambience, customer facilitation and clearly differentiated product presentation. They are also the brand behind one of India’s best known bi-annual fashion gala, the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week.