Sanjiv Puri made ITC chairman

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.

And so, 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. Readers will recall that ITC chairman YC Deveshwar died on 11 May in a Gurugram hospital. He was 72 and was ITC's longest-serving corporate head. He transformed the cigarette major into a diversified player with interests in FMCG, hospitality, IT and other sectors and boosted the power of "packaging".

Puri (56) is an alumnus of the IIT, Kanpur, and Wharton School of Business. He joined ITC in 1986 and has handled various responsibilities, including as chief of FMCG business that comprises cigarettes, foods, personal care education and stationery and matches and agarbatties.

Puri has also led ITC Infotech and served as managing director of Surya Nepal Private Ltd., a subsidiary of ITC.

ITC reported an 18.7 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 3,481.9 crore for the fourth quarter ended 31 March, 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 also paperboards.