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ITC Ltd is likely to appoint a new Chief Executive Officer, following re-appointment of YC Deveshwar as non-executive Chairman in February 2017. Deveshwar is currently Chairman and CEO.
While ITC is silent about the upcoming move, sources say Sanjiv Puri, Director in-charge of FMCG and paperboards, paper and packing business, is expected to be the new CEO.
Apart from Puri, two other names doing the rounds are Nakul Anand, looking after ITC hotels; and CFO Rajiv Tandon.
However, sources say scales are tipped in favour of Puri who was elevated as President of the ₹28,410-crore FMCG (both cigarette and non-cigarette) businesses in 2014, followed by a board level appointment last year.
Though cigarettes still contribute nearly 50 per cent of ITC’s turnover; Deveshwar has all across maintained that the ₹9,724-crore non-cigarette (called ‘other’) FMCG segment is the future growth driver.
Hospitality is also close to Deveshwar’s heart. But at 59, age may not be on Nakul Anand’s side. Deveshwar had assumed the top job of the company at 49.
In an e-mailed response, ITC said: “We do not wish to comment on speculation. The AGM notice states that Deveshwar will provide guidance and mentorship to the new executive management that is planned to be put in place. We have no additional comments to offer at the moment.”
Grooming new leaders
Sources say, as chairman and CEO, Deveshwar has spent considerable time identifying and mentoring future leaders. Apart from Puri, Anand and Tandon, the company has a strong pipeline of nearly 10 managers.
Except Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive of the personal care products unit and Sushma Rajagopalan, MD and CEO of ITC Infotech, the rest are ITC insiders (‘lifers’, they say).
Satpathy joined the company in December 2015 from Marico India, while Sushma was earlier with LiquidHub and joined ITC Infotech in 2014.
The insiders are: B Sumant, President – FMCG business; S Sivakumar, Divisional Chief Executive of agri-business; Sandeep Kaul, Chief Executive of the tobacco segment; VL Rajesh, Chief Executive of the food business; Atul Chand, Chief Executive in charge of lifestyle retailing business division; VM Rajasekharan, Head of the matches and agarbatti segment; and R Senguttuvanm, Chief Executive of the packaging and printing business; among others.
According to sources, Deveshwar had been instrumental in putting in a three-tier corporate governance structure while his mentorship programme included “empowering” chief executives to run their businesses (divisions) independently.
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