Y C Deveshwar obit: ITC's never-say-die diversification strategist

Y C Deveshwar died on Saturday leaving behind an ITC very different from the one he inherited. Deveshwar donned the role of ITC's executive chairman in 1996. He slipped into a non-executive role in 2017.

During his tenure as executive chairman, the company's revenues grew ten-fold to Rs 51,582 crore and profit before tax, 33 times to Rs 14,958 crore; total shareholder returns grew at a compounded annual rate of 23.3 per cent.
 

But perhaps his biggest achievement would be that the consumer spend on the new FMCG brands today is more than twice ITC's size in 1996.

Today's ITC,