Chairman of the ITC group, YC Deveshwar, passed away this Saturday morning. He was 72 years old. The cause of his death is unknown, however, reports suggest that he was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago.

YC Deveshwar was one of the longest serving corporate chiefs of India who held the position of executive chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) at ITC Ltd for over two decades, till 4 February 2017. Sanjiv Puri currently serves as the CEO and MD of the company.

He joined ITC in 1968 and became the executive chairman in 1996. He has been credited for ITC's sucessful diversification in the FMCG sector and for tackling the takeover threat from its largest shareholder BAT.

In June 2018, it was decided to extended Deveshwar's tenure as the non-executive chairman from 2020 to 2022 so that he could continue guiding the senior management "given the increasing size and complexity of the organisation".

In 2011, Deveshwar was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India.

GoodReturns.in