FMCG major ITC on Monday (25 July) announced the appointment of Sanjiv Puri as its chief operating officer with immediate effect.
The board of the company, in its meeting held on Monday “redesignated Sanjiv Puri, wholetime director, also as chief operating officer (COO) of the company with immediate effect,” ITC said in a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing.
On December 6, ITC had elevated Sanjiv Puri as director of its FMCG business replacing P Dhobale.
He also has responsibility for ITC’s packaging & printing business and paperboards and specialty papers division business from January 22, 2016.
Puri is seen as the successor of chairman Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, who is to step down early next year after a more than two-decade stint as chairman.
According to reports, Deveshwar will step down as its executive chairman at the end of his term in February 2017, but will continue to helm the company as non-executive chairman for at least three more years to oversee the emergence of younger leaders.
When Deveshwar took over as executive chairman in January 1996, ITC's revenue was less than Rs 5,200 crore and profit before tax stood at Rs 452 crore. Its revenues have since grown 10 fold to Rs 51,582 crore, while PBT has grown 33 times to Rs 14,958 crore.
Prior to his appointment as director, Puri was President FMCG Businesses from December 2014, which takes care of segments as cigarettes, foods, personal care, education & stationery products, matches and agarbattis.
Puri, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, joined ITC in 1986. Puri has worked with ITC in several roles. Puri’s first major break was in 2001 when he was appointed the managing director Surya Nepal, a subsidiary of ITC that became one of the largest private companies in Nepal. Puri also played a key role in ITC’s entry into the apparel business, according to a report in
Mint.
Shares of ITC were trading at Rs. 250.70 at 1.10 pm, up 0.46 per cent from the previous close on the BSE.
(PTI)
