ITC extends Deveshwar’s tenure

Y C Deveshwar, who was due to retire next year, will continue as ITC chairman for another

five years. Deveshwar has steered ITC for the past 15 years, during which he has helped grow its mainstay cigarettes business, expanded its presence in the hospitality sector and spearheaded its entry into a host of new areas such as FMCG, foods, and retail. When Deveshwar took over as chairman in 1996, the company’s topline was Rs 5,000 crores, which has grown nearly six times since then. Post-tax profit during the period grew from Rs 260 crores to about Rs 4,987 crores during the same period.

ITC announced its Q1 results and has pared down its non-cigarette FMCG losses 14 per cent to Rs 76.28 crores. But the company claims that the non-cigarette FMCG business is an aggregate of a number of businesses and not all product ranges are making losses. Moreover ITC is entering new product lines and that means a tremendous amount has to be spent on advertising and marketing which is eating into profits. The company operates various businesses from cigarettes to hotels, along with paperboards to agriculture. In the next five years, the non-cigarette FMCG business is expected to make reasonable profits. ITC is probably the only company in the world to be carbon positive, water positive and waste recycling positive with its businesses contributing to creating more than 5 million sustainable livelihoods. In the lifestyle space it has the popular brand Wills Lifestyle and they are also the name and force behind the biannual fashion extravaganza, Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week.