who is Mr. YOGESH CHANDER DEVESHWAR, ITC Group of India?

Answer 1

In July 2006, Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, who had guided ITC Limited from a crisis-ridden entity in the mid-1990s to a multi-diversified company, was re-appointed Chairman for another five years from the end of his present term in February 2007.


The current term of the 59 year-old Deveshwar was to end on February 5, 2007, but the resolution enabled him to continue till 2012 as the Chairman of the Kolkata-based company.

Deveshwar had taken over the reigns of the company in January, 1996 when ITC was tackling the allegation of FERA violation and had just witnessed the arrest of two its former Chairmen - K L Chugh and J N Sapru.

Before the resolution to re-appoint Deveshwar was put to vote, Ram Tarneja, a senior member of the ITC board read out a brief note on his contribution to the company during his decade-long tenure as Chairman.

Deveshwar not only guided ITC limited out of the crisis period, but also laid out new business plans to reduce the company's dependence on the tobacco business, which was coming more and more under various restrictive guidelines in view of the anti-smoking campaign.

He did not only sustain the hotels and paper/paperboard business, which had been initiated during the tenure of Sapru, but also planned out the expansion of the FMCG business into non-cigarette areas, extension of the Wills brand to other products and also creation of an e-choupal network for expansion of retail business in rural areas.

Answer 2

Mr. Yogesh Chander Deveshwar was born on 4th February 1947. He received his Bachelor of Technology Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1968. He obtained AMP Diploma from Harvard Business School, USA and also took Advanced Training in Hoteliering and Services at Cornell University, USA.

Mr. Deveshwar joined Indian Tobacco Company in 1968 as a Management pupil and in 1972 was appointed MBO Adviser to Corporate Headquarters in Calcutta. In 1974, he took over as Factory Manager in ITC’s Packaging and Printing Plant in Madras and was appointed General Manager of ITC’s Packaging and Printing Division in 1978. He joined the Company’s Board in 1984, taking charge of Welcomgroup (Hotel Division) as its Chairman. He pioneered the first private sector Degree Institute of Hotel Management - the Welcomgroup School of Hotel Administration, Manipal and received the Hotelier of the Year Award in 1986 for his outstanding contribution to this industry. In 1991 he took over as Chairman of ITC’s Indian Tobacco Division and Indian Leaf Tobacco Development Division.

In November 1991 he headed Air India on lien from ITC Ltd. As Chairman and Managing Director. In 1994 Mr. Deveshwar rejoined ITC and was appointed whole time Director and Vice Chairman of the Company. He took over as Chairman of ITC in January 1996. He received the Marketing Man of the Year Award in 1994.

Mr. Deveshwar is the Chairman of some of the ITC Group Companies – ITC Hotels Ltd., Bhadrachalam Paperboards Ltd. and ITC Agro-Tech Ltd. He is a Director on the Board of a number of Companies. He is also a member of the National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry and a member of the Board of Governors, IIT Kharagpur and was the Vice President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Answer 3

Mr. Bush is trying hard to convince the people of America that the raising inflation is not because of his bad policying but because of factors external to the US of A. While as the truth is that a bigger part of the US national budget is spent on the so called "war on terrorism" than is being spent on feeding people. The comment on the Indian middle class by Bush is just a desperate attempt at re-gaining the parties credibility in the eyes of US nationals!