New Delhi: Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, the man who took ITC from being ‘just a cigarette maker’ to a valuable multi-business conglomerate, died Saturday morning after a brief illness.
Deveshwar, 72, who had stepped down from executive role as chairman and CEO of the Kolkata-based company in 2017 but remained a non-executive chairman, breathed his last at a private hospital in Gurugram.
In a statement Saturday, ITC managing director Sanjiv Puri said, “His 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 us in the journey ahead.”
Deveshwar was the longest-serving ITC chairman. He is survived by his wife Bharti, and children Gaurav and Garima.
The journey
Deveshwar joined ITC in 1968 after completing B.Tech in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. A diploma holder from Harvard Business School, he also took an advanced training course in hotels and services from Cornell University.
He was named a director on ITC’s board on 11 April 1984 and went on to become its chief executive and chairman on 1 January 1996.
When he took charge at the helm of the company, ITC was confronted with formidable challenges, with diversification efforts either failing or languishing. The company’s revenue was less than Rs 5,200 crore and profit before tax stood at Rs 452 crore.
Looking to take ITC beyond the cigarette market, Deveshwar decided to enter the FMCG business during his two-decade reign.
“His real genius came to the fore in ITC’s move into the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) industry based on the insight that the same small store in the smallest towns of India would carry biscuits and wafers as they were stocking the cigarettes with which the company dominates the market. Indeed, ITC went rural long before the concept of marketing beyond the big towns was discovered by marketers,” said a Livemint column.
One of the most popular products ITC made during the period was ‘Aashirvaad Atta’. The wheat product made ITC the second-largest wheat buyer in the country after Food Corporation of India.
Several businesses initiated by Deveshwar — with the robust portfolio of businesses in FMCG, hotels, paperboards, and paper, packaging and agriculture — became names to reckon with over time.
He made way for Puri, whom he had groomed, in 2017.
As of March 2018, ITC’s gross sales value stood at Rs 67,081 crore and it posted a net profit of Rs 11,223 crore. The fresh results are due on Monday.
He also played a part in nation-building, having served as a director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India, as a member of the National Foundation for Corporate Governance and as a member of the governing body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research.
Deveshwar was conferred Padma Bhushan by the government in 2011.
With inputs from PTI.