Yogi Deveshwar
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A brief biography
May 12, 2019: The Times of India
From: May 12, 2019: The Times of India
ITC Now Has 25 Non-Tobacco Mother Brands
Kolkata:
Yogesh Chander Deveshwar was the man credited with transforming tobacco major ITC into one of India’s most diversified companies,.
YCD or Yogi, as he was popularly known, oversaw the company’s push into sectors as diverse as food (ranging from biscuits to pasteurised milk), stationery (from pencils and compasses to notebooks) and personal care products (from body wash to deodorants) during a 21-year tenure as ITC’s executive chairman. He was also one of the longest serving professional heads of a leading company.
One simple statistic summed up his contribution to making the Kolkata-headquartered company fit for the next, more healthy generation of consumers: over 75% of the firm’s revenue came from tobacco in 1996, when he took over; by the time he stepped down from the executive chairman’s perch in 2017, tobacco’s contribution fell to only 41%.
ITC now has 25 non-tobacco mother brands, on which consumers spend Rs 14,000 crore annually. Only a little less significant was the change in the company’s name — from ‘Imperial Tobacco Company’ to only ‘ITC’ — which, too, occurred during his tenure.
The IIT-Delhi and Harvard Business School alumnus was 72 and is survived by his wife, Bharti, son, daughter and grandchildren. Friends recalled a man with “a robust outlook to life”, which was undiminished even when he was fighting cancer and travelling between Kolkata, Delhi and the United States for treatment. He even attended ITC’s last annual general meeting in Kolkata on July 27, 2018; the only concession he took — and was readily granted — was a request to remain seated as he read out the (non-executive) chairman’s speech and answered share-holders’ queries.
Another major success that Deveshwar notched up was with Air India when he was its chairman-cum-managing director between 1991 and 1994, a period remembered for a turnaround in the national carrier’s fortunes. He went to Air India from ITC and came back again to ITC.
“Saddened at the passing away of Deveshwar Ji. He was a giant in the corporate world. I have many memories of him as a distinguished captain of industry,” Banerjee tweeted. Deveshwar took over as ITC’s executive chairman in January 1996, a post he held till August 2017 (when he became the company’s non-executive chairman). The 1990s were a challenging time for the tobacco behemoth; the Enforcement Directorate was investigating charges of money-laundering and had arrested two of its former chairmen, K L Chugh and J N Sapru. Efforts to diversify into non-tobacco brands floundered for some time and it was left to Deveshwar to start the rebuilding process (first by exiting from the loss-making financial services, which was followed by exits from edible oils, overseas restaurants and real estate).
It was after this stage that Deveshwar focused on diversification to reduce ITC’s dependence on tobacco. The firm entered sectors like FMCG, including food, personal care products and stationery, as well as into infotech. From a company known for cigarette brands like Classic, Wills Navy Cut or Gold Flake, it is now identified with brands like Sunfeast, Aashirvaad, Vivel, Yippee, Bingo! and Fiama.
