Imperial Tabacco Company of India Limited commonly known as ITC's longest-serving chairman Yogesh Chander Deveshwar passed away .According to company sources, he passed away after a prolonged illness. He passed away this morning at a private hospital in Gurugram. It may be noted that he was diagnosed with Cancer a few years ago. He left behind his wife and two children - a son and a daughter.
Deveshwar joined ITC in 1968 and under his leadership, the company has become one of the most valued companies in the FMCG category. He was appointed as a director on the board of the company in 1984 and became the CEO and chairman in 1996. He was India's longest-serving CEO. He stepped down from the executive role in 2017 but remained the chairman in a non-executive capacity.
ITC Managing Director Sanjiv Puri said in a statement, "We deeply mourn the passing away of Y C Deveshwar, Chairman ITC. Deveshwar 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 support over 6 million livelihoods, many amongst the weakest in society."
Puri further said, "Spearheading a journey of stellar growth that led the Harvard Business Review to rank him the 7th Best Performing CEO in the world, his leadership transformed ITC into a valuable and admired multi business conglomerate with a robust portfolio of front-ranking businesses in FMCG, Hotels, Paperboards & 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".
It is worth mentioning that under him, the company's revenue grew from Rs 5,200 crore to over Rs 51,500 crore. He even received Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award in 2011.