New Delhi, India: Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, ITC Chairman passed away at 72 after a brief illness.

Noted industry leader and ITC Chairman YC Deveshwar passed away Saturday morning after suffering from a brief illness.

Deveshwar, who transformed a cigarette firm into a diverse company. It soon became the FMCG giant that soon got its hands on hospitality, IT and other sectors.

Deveshwar stepped down from executive role as chairman and CEO in 2017 but remained as a non-executive chairman, breathed his last at a private hospital in Gurugram.

“We deeply mourn the passing away of Y C Deveshwar, Chairman ITC,” ITC Managing Director Sanjiv Puri said in a statement.

“His leadership transformed ITC into a valuable and admired multi business conglomerate with a robust portfolio of front-ranking businesses in FMCG, hotels, paperboards and paper, packaging and agri-business,” said Puri in another statement.

“His vision to make societal value creation a bedrock of corporate strategy also led ITC to become a global exemplar in sustainability and the only company in the world to be carbon positive, water positive and solid waste positive for over a decade,” added Puri.

“Inspired by a patriotic fervour, manifest in his clarion call of ‘Let’s Put India First’, he led ITC’s strategic thrust to create an exemplary Indian enterprise dedicated to serving national priorities,” Puri explained.

(With inputs from PTI)

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