Sanjiv Puri Appointed ITC's New Chairman After YC Deveshwar's Death

The country's largest cigarette maker ITC on Monday informed exchanges that its board of directors has appointed Managing Director Sanjiv Puri as its Chairman with immediate effect following the demise of YC Deveshwar, who was the chairman and non-executive director of the diversified conglomerate.

"The Board of Directors of the company at the meeting held today appointed Sanjiv Puri, Managing Director, also as the Chairman of the company with effect from May 13, 2019. Consequently, Puri's new designation is Chairman & Managing Director of the company," ITC said in an exchange filing.

Mr Puri has been a director on the board of the company since 2015 and was appointed the Chief Executive Officer in February 2017, assuming independent charge of the executive leadership of the conglomerate.

"It is an honour and privilege to be appointed the Chairman of the company. It is a responsibility that I accept with humility and with a deep resolve to build on the outstanding legacy nurtured over the years, further strengthen and build market leadership across all business segments whilst reinforcing ITC's commitment to put Nation First always," Mr Puri said in a statement.

He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and Wharton School of Business. Mr Puri has also served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company since July 2016.

Before taking over as the COO, Sanjiv Puri was responsible for overseeing its FMCG, paperboards, paper and packaging, as well as agri businesses in his career at the company spanning over 32 years.

Sanjiv Puri became divisional chief executive of the tobacco division in 2009, with additional responsibility for the company's trade marketing and distribution vertical.

He had led ITC Infotech India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company as its Managing Director from May 2006 to August 2009.

Mr Deveshwar, who was the company's longest serving corporate head, died on Saturday. He was 72.

He was first appointed an executive director in April, 1984 and became chairman in 1996. In February, 2017, Mr Deveshwar was appointed as chairman in a non-executive capacity.