ITC MD Sanjiv Puri replaces late Yogi Deveshwar as company's new Chairman

Sanjiv Puri, Managing Director of diversified conglomerate ITC Ltd, was on Monday appointed the company's new Chairman in the place of veteran Yogi Deveshwar, who died on Saturday. The appointment of Puri, till now the Managing Director, was made by ITC at a meeting of its Board of Directors, which conveyed this in a regulatory filing. 72-year-old Deveshwar, one of India's longest-serving top executives and Chairman of ITC, died on Saturday morning after a brief illness.

Puri was mentored by Deveshwar for the dual role of Chairman-cum-Managing Director for a transition originally scheduled for 2021-22. He was holding the charge of Managing Director from May 16 last year. Puri was appointed as a Director on the board of ITC on December 6, 2015 and Chief Executive Officer from February 5, 2017. He is also the Chairman of the Corporate Management Committee. Prior to this, he was the Chief Operating Officer of ITC since July 22, 2016. He was earlier responsible for overseeing the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), paperboards, paper and packaging, and agri businesses.

Puri is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, and Wharton School of Business. He had joined ITC in 1986. Puri has served as the Chairman of FICCI's FMCG Committee, the Agri and Food Processing Task Force of the CII Eastern Region and as a Council Member of the CII Eastern Region. He was also on the executive council of The Indian Society of Advertiser. Deveshwar had stepped down from executive role in 2017 but remained as a chairman in non-executive capacity. In 2017, ITC had split the role of the Executive Chairman between Chairman and Chief Executive Officer as part of succession planning in the company. 

(With inputs from agencies.)