ITC gets a new CFO in Supratim Dutta as part of organisational revamp

Appointment with effect from September 5 as new man in replaces Rajiv Tandon, who continues on board, with Dutta reporting to him

Diversified conglomerate ITC has appointed Supratim Dutta chief financial officer as part of its organizational restructuring.

ITC informed the exchanges Saturday night that Dutta (53) was appointed as the chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from September 5. He would be replacing Rajiv Tandon, who would, however, continue on the board and Dutta would be reporting to him.

Dutta, who joined ITC on November 1, 1990, soon after qualifying as a chartered  accountant and cost accountant, has had a wide ranging experience in the company. He has covered various aspects of finance including planning, treasury, mergers & acquisitions, accounting, taxation, IT, investor relations and business strategy over the last 30 years. 

He has also held important positions in various industry bodies including chairperson – finance and banking committee of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, ITC said.

Commenting on the appointment of the new CFO, Abneesh Roy, executive vice president of institutional equities at Edelweiss Securities, said, Dutta has been with ITC for 30 years and relatively young from ITC perspective at 53 years of age.

This was a positive development as the average age of top management continues to reduce started earlier by appointment of Puri as chairman, he added.

ITC recently made some changes in its executive management, too. Rajnikant Rai, who was chief operating officer of agri business, became divisional chief executive of in June; Vikas Gupta took over as divisional chief executive of the education and stationery business in March this year, which was in addition to his responsibility as the divisional chief executive of the lifestyle retailing business. 

However, even as the changes were made, ITC veterans – Tandon (66) and Nakul Anand (63) - have been reappointed to the board.

At the company’s annual general meeting held on September 4, Tandon, who oversees finance, accounting, internal audit and IT functions and also investment subsidiaries of the company, was reappointed as a wholetime director for a period of one year from July 22, 2021.

Nakul Anand, who oversees hospitality, travel and tourism businesses, in addition to lifestyle retailing, too, has been reappointed for a period of two years from January 3, 2021.

Incidentally, at the company’s AGM, there was a shareholder comment on the age of the board. ITC chairman, Sanjiv Puri, however, responded that age was not the factor to look at. The effectiveness of a board should be judged on the quality of governance, quality of results and quality of stakeholder management, he said. 

It’s a question of having the right talent and the right skills and age is not the index for it, he further added.