YC Deveshwar to give up executive role at ITC from Feb 2017

Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, India's longest-serving, most-recognized and highest-paid CEO, is set to step down from executive role at ITC from February 2017, after which he will stay on as Non-Executive Chairman.The announcement that 69-year-old Deveshwar will hand over the baton to a "youthful leadership" was made in a notice to shareholders for their upcoming annual general meeting on July 22. Wednesday's AGM will be Deveshwar's last as CEO of the company.Deveshwar joined ITC in 1968 and assumed office as Executive Chairman in January, 1996. His re-appointment as a Director and also as Wholetime Director and Chairman for a period of five years with effect from February 5, 2012 was approved in the company's AGM in July, 2011.At the meeting, the company will seek the shareholders' nod to appoint him as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman for a period of three years with effect from February 5, 2017.When he assumed office, ITC was "was confronted with formidable challenges," the company said in a statement. The early diversification efforts had either failed or were languishing and the businesses were not competitive enough in an emerging liberalised economic environment. He led the transformation of ITC, known mostly as a cigarette maker, to a diversified group with presence ranging from FMCG, hospitality, paperboard and packaging, IT and agri business. Under his stewardship, the company also created several world-class Indian brands in the FMCG space."He is an amazing businessman. It was because of him that ITC was able to stave off a takeover attempt from British American Tobacco [in the 90s] and helped it to continue to stay an Indian company," business historian Gita Piramal told CNBC-TV18. "He leaves behind a well-fortified, financially-strong empire.""He is the one who decided tobacco is not the future of any business in any country today. His foray into fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) was great," said Sunil Alagh of SKA Advisors.Under him, the company saw its profits surge 33 times (from Rs 452 crore to Rs 14,958 crore) and revenues grow tenfold (from Rs 5,200 crore to Rs 51,582 crore). Shares grew a compounded 23.3 percent during this period, making it one of the best-returning stock in the Indian equity market.The market should react positively if there is a concrete succession plan at ITC, market expert Ambareesh Baliga said. "The fact that Deveshwar is around to guide a new management team is a good thing."- With inputs from CNBC-TV18 and PTI