Sanjiv Puri has been appointed as the chairman and managing director of the Rs 48,269-crore cigarette-to-hotels and foods conglomerate two days after the demise of its longest-serving chairman Yogesh Chander Deveshwar.
The decision was announced soon after a meeting of the board of directors that vetted and approved the financial results for the fourth quarter (January-March) and the full year ended March 31.
Puri, 56, will be the first in the Calcutta-based diversified group to hold the title of chairman and managing director.
An alumnus of IIT, Kanpur and Wharton School of Business, Puri was made the managing director of the company in May 2018.
The executive role was prised out of the position when Deveshwar became non-executive chairman on February 5, 2017. Puri, who was the chief operating officer since July 22, 2016, became the chief executive officer.
With Monday’s board decision, ITC will once again have an executive chairman — as it did in the past.
“It is an honour and privilege to be appointed the chairman of ITC Ltd. It is a responsibility that I accept with humility and with a deep resolve to build on the outstanding legacy nurtured over the years, further strengthen and build market leadership across all business segments whilst reinforcing ITC’s commitment to put Nation First always,” Puri said in a written statement.
“In the journey ahead, I am sure I can count on the support of our shareholders, partners, associates and most of all, the dedicated Team ITC to continue our shared aspiration to build an exemplary enterprise of pride to the nation,” he added.
After joining the company in 1986, Puri had taken up several crucial roles before joining the board on December 6, 2015. Earlier, he was the president of the FMCG businesses from December 2014.
Puri was the managing director of Surya Nepal Private Ltd, a joint venture, between 2001 and 2006, and ITC Infotech India Ltd from 2006 to 2009.
He became divisional chief executive of the tobacco division in 2009, with additional responsibility for the company’s trade marketing and distribution vertical.
Strong results
ITC reported an 18.7 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 3,481.9 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared with Rs 2,932.71 crore in the January-March period a year ago.
Total income stood at Rs 12,946.21 crore, a growth of 12.5 per cent over Rs 11329.74 crore a year ago. The company attributed the rise to its farm business, hotels and paperboards.
During the quarter, revenue from cigarettes was Rs 5,485.92 crore compared with Rs 4,936.45 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18. Revenue from non-tobacco FMCG came in at Rs 3,273.92 crore against Rs 3,051.82 crore a year ago.
On a full-year basis, ITC’s consolidated profit stood at Rs 12,824.2 crore in 2018-19 compared with Rs 11,485.1 crore, a growth of 11.6 per cent.
