ITC may split top mgmt position

KOLKATA: ITC, the tobacco-to-hotels major, may split the top management position into two even as its current chairman, Y C Deveshwar, is tipped to get a fresh five year term, part of it in a non-executive role.
According to a top ITC sources, the board has been discussing a successor to Deveshwar for last few months. "The nomination committee was working on this.One of the options is to create a post of MD or CEO which ITC never had earlier," an ITC board member, told TOI.
There are talks that Y C Deveshwar, the current chairman, will hand over the baton to a young leader, who can be at the top for at least ten years like Deveshwar himself.
It may be noted that ITC chairman has sought an extension for another five years from February 5, 2012. The resolution also stated that a part of the tenure may be served as non executive chairman. "As a process of succession planning, a part of the tenure may be served as non executive chairman," the resolution says.
Deveshwar is grooming a young leadership in the firm for the last three years. Now, the average age of divisional chief executives in ITC is within 45. Deveswar took over as chairman of ITC in 1996 when he was not even 50. The three executive directors on the board P V Dhobale, Nakul Anand and K N Grant are all below 55 years while Grant is the youngest of them at 53. When contacted ITC spokesperson did not offer any comment.
Since 1959, when Ajit Narayan Haksar took over as chairman of ITC, the company never had the post of MD. Haksar was executive chairman till 1983 when J N Sapru took over the baton from him. In 1991, K L Chugh was elected as executive chairman. Y C Deveswar became executive chairman in January 1996 when ITC was going through a turbulent time due to alleged Fera violation.
The company's topline was Rs 5,000 crore, which has grown nearly six times since then. Post-tax profit during the period grew from Rs 260 crore to about Rs 4,987 crore during the same period. He was also instrumental in the turning around hotels and paperboard businesses.
Sources said that Deveshwar took personal effort to bring in young leadership in the company in last couple of years. ITC has 13 businesses and the average age of divisional chief executives is less than 45. Among the major businesses, only Sanjiv Puri, chief executive of tobacco vertical, is above 45. All other chief executives of major divisions like C Dar of Foods, A Chand of lifestyle retailing, S Kaul of personal care products, S Sivakumar of agri business, S K Singh of paperboard are all below 45.