Former ITC Chairman Y.C. Deveshwar died on Saturday after a long battle with cancer, company sources said. He was 72.
Deveshwar was one of the longest-serving corporate heads in Indian history with over two decades at the helm at ITC.
He previously led Air India as its managing director between 1991 and 1994.
Deveshwar joined ITC in 1968 and became the executive chairman of the company in 1996. Under his leadership, ITC was successful in warding a takeover threat from its largest shareholder BAT and it made a successful diversification in the FMCG category.
Deveshwar moved to the role of non executive chairman in 2017. Sanjiv Puri is the current CEO and MD of the company
ITC Ltd MD Sanjiv Puri said Deveshwar had passionately championed the cause for sustainable and inclusive growth and the transformative role businesses could play in creating larger societal value. This vision drove ITC to pursue business models that today supports over 6 million livelihoods, many amongst the weakest in society.
“Inspired by a patriotic fervour, manifest in his clarion call of ‘Lets Put India First’, he led ITC’s strategic thrust to create an exemplary Indian enterprise dedicated to serving national priorities,” said Puri.
Deveshwar, who spearheaded ITC as its chairman for over two decades, was conferred Padma Bhushan by the government. He was also ranked the seventh best performing CEO in the world by the Harvard Business Review.
“His leadership transformed ITC into a valuable and admired multi business conglomerate with a robust portfolio of front-ranking businesses in FMCG, hotels, paperboards and paper, packaging and agri-business. His Vision to make societal value creation a bedrock of corporate strategy also led ITC to become a global exemplar in sustainability and the only company in the world to be carbon positive, water positive and solid waste positive for over a decade,” said Puri.
Puri said Deveshwar’s “superordinate vision to build an exemplary Indian enterprise, to serve national priorities, create the businesses of tomorrow, impeccable values and personal integrity, the width and depth of his strategic thinking and his compassionate conduct of business” will continue to inspire ITC going ahead.