Y C DEVESHWAR

Y C Deveshwar (62), an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi joined ITC Limited in 1968. He was appointed as a Director on the Board of the Company in 1984 and became the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board on January 1, 1996. Between 1991 and 1994, he led Air India as Chairman and Managing Director.

Under his leadership, ITC’s Sustainability efforts were given shape through unique business models. ITC became the first Indian company to publish its Sustainability Report, 2004 in accordance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative. For the efforts at creating sustainable livelihood opportunities, ITC also won the inaugural World Business Award instituted jointly by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the HRH Prince of Wales International Business Leader's Forum (IBLF). ITC’s ‘e-Choupal’, a digital infrastructure initiative to empower marginal farmers in India, is taught as a case study at the Harvard Business School. This initiative won the Development Gateway award at Beijing in September 2005 and the Stockholm Challenge Award in May 2006.

Deveshwar is the Past President of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian School of Business and the former Chairman of the Society and Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He also serves on the National Executive Committees of some of India’s premier trade and industry bodies.

Amongst several awards and recognitions during his distinguished career, Deveshwar has been honoured with the SAM/SPG Sustainability Leadership Award 2007 conferred at the International Sustainability Leadership Symposium, Business Person of the Year Award 2006 by the UK Trade & Investment by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and in January 2006, he was inducted to the prestigious Hall of Pride at the Indian Science Congress. He was also named Manager Entrepreneur of the Year 2001 by Ernst & Young.

Anup Singh (64) was appointed a Director on the Board of ITC on November 21, 1997. He supervises the Company’s Cigarettes, Foods, Personal Care, Lifestyle Retailing and Agri Business Divisions. He has in the past held responsibility for the Company's Information Technology business. An Electrical Engineer from IIT Kharagpur, he has played a key role in initiating modernisation, quality and technology upgradation in various businesses across ITC throughout a career spanning over four decades. He was instrumental in implementing the concept of “Management by Objectives” (MBO), a strategic initiative of the Company.

Prior to his appointment as Director, he led the Company’s Cigarette and Specialty Papers Business as its Chief Executive. Mr. Singh also holds responsibility for the Company’s R&D, Environment, Occupational Health and Safety functions and oversees the Central Projects Organisation. His Directorships include that of Surya Nepal Private Limited and the Tobacco Institute of India. He is the President of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and past President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

K Vaidyanath (59) was appointed a Director on the Board of ITC on January 17, 2001. He holds responsibility for the Company's Finance, Internal Audit and Corporate Communications functions, its investment subsidiary, its Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Information Technology, Education and Stationery Products, Matches and Agarbattis businesses. He is also the Chairman of ITC Infotech India Limited and its subsidiaries, ITC Infotech Limited, UK and ITC Infotech (USA) Inc.

Before his elevation to the Board, he was the Company's Chief Financial Officer. An MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, Vaidyanath has been with ITC for the past 33 years. He has held various positions in the Company's Finance function including that of Head of Finance of ITC's Packaging, Hotels and Agri Businesses. He has also been Head of Corporate Planning & Treasury, as well as Internal Audit.  He has in the past held responsibility for the Company's Agri Businesses. He has been a recipient of the 'Best CFO' award from Business Today.

R K Kaul (57) joined the ITC Board on August 7, 2007 as a representative of the General Insurer’s (Public Sector) Association of India. Kaul commenced his career as an Officer with the General Insurance Corporation of India in 1977. After a year, he was assigned to the National Insurance Company Ltd (NICL), where he handled several responsibilities.

In 1993, Kaul was seconded to Kenindia Assurance Company Limited, Nairobi as Deputy General Manager, Operations. He returned to NICL in 1999 as Manager of Delhi Regional Office II. From 2000 to 2002, he was in charge of operations of NICL in Gujarat. In 2002, he became the Assistant General Manager for Delhi Regional Office I. In 2006, he took over as General Manager, NICL, Kolkata.

S H Khan (71) joined the ITC Board as a Non-Executive Independent Director on October 30, 2006. Khan is the former Chairman and Managing Director of Industrial Development Bank of India. He holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce and is a university Gold Medalist. He is an alumnus of International Management Development Institute, Lausanne.

He started his professional career with RBI and after serving it for a few years moved over to IDBI in 1966. He served IDBI in various capacities for over three decades and retired as its Chairman and Managing Director in 1998. During his tenure as Chairman, IDBI made impressive growth in its operations and profits. He was instrumental in expanding its activities to several new areas like commercial banking, asset management and stock broking. He played an important role in the promotion of two premier capital market institutions viz., NSE and NSDL and guided their operations for 5 years as their first Chairman. He was also involved in the promotion of the rating agency, CARE and served as its Chairman for 10 years. Khan in his capacity as IDBI Chairman has served on the Boards of a number of important institutions such as UTI, LIC, GIC, IFCI, Exim Bank, Deposit Insurance Corporation, Indian Airlines and Air India. Currently he serves as an Independent Director on the Boards of several companies including Bajaj Auto Ltd, Infrastructure Development Finance Company and Apollo Health Street Limited.

S B Mathur (65) has been on the ITC Board since July 29 2005, first as a representative of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and then in his individual capacity.

A qualified Chartered Accountant, Mathur retired from Life Insurance Corporation of India in October 2004 as its Chairman. Subsequently, the Government of India appointed him the Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) in December 2004, up to December 2007.

Mathur took over as Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India at a time when the insurance sector had just opened up. Under his leadership, LIC successfully rose to the challenges of a competitive environment by enhancing product offerings.

He joined Life Insurance Corporation of India in 1967 as a Direct recruit officer and rose to the rank of Chairman. He held various positions in LIC including Senior Divisional Manager of Gwalior division, Chief of Corporate Planning, General Manager of LIC (International) E.C., Zonal Manager in charge of Western Zone and Executive Director.

Mathur is currently Non Executive Chairman of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. He is a Director on the Boards of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited, DCM Shriram Industries Limited and Havells India Limited among others.

D K Mehrotra (56) has been on the ITC Board since May 26, 2006 first as a representative of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) and then as a representative of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). He is currently the Managing Director of LIC. He joined LIC as a Direct Recruit Officer in 1977.

Born in 1953, Mehrotra is an Honours Graduate in Science from the Patna University. In an illustrious career spanning 30 years, Mehrotra has held various important positions spanning three Zones and the Corporate office of LIC. He was Executive Director (International Operations) before being appointed Managing Director.

Mehrotra has attended several important knowledge forums in India and abroad. He is associated with the apex training institutes of insurance in India, like the National Insurance Academy and the Insurance Institute of India. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of India Advantage Funds I & II of the ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Limited. He is a Director on the Boards of ACC Limited and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited, among others. 

H G Powell (64) joined the ITC Board as a representative of BAT on May 7, 2008. Powell's career spanning almost 40 years began in 1963 when he joined Unilever in its Management Development Scheme. He trained with Lever Brothers for 5 years in the Marketing and Sales functions.
In 1968, he joined Warner-Lambert Inc. as Brand Manager and became General Manager, Consumer Products, in 1975. A year later, he joined Standard Brands in Canada and assumed charge as President of Lowney's Confectionery. Two years later, Powell joined Jacobs Suchard as President of Nabob Foods. He later shifted to Germany to head Jacobs Suchard's coffee and chocolate unit.

In 1984, he joined John Labatt Ltd in Canada and was President of a number of its businesses, including McGavin's Bakeries, Everfresh Juice Company in Chicago, Ontario Breweries and Labatt Brewing Company. In 1995, he took over as Chief Executive Officer of Interbrew Americas and then of Interbrew SA in 1999. Powell retired from Interbrew SA in 2002.

Since July 2004, he is on the Board of Directors of Reynolds American Inc.

P B Ramanujam (65) has been on the Board of ITC since October 30 1998, first as a representative of General Insurance Corporation of India and its erstwhile subsidiaries and then in his individual capacity. A qualified Chartered Accountant, Ramanujam has held several responsibilities in the General Insurance Corporation of India covering finance, accounts, investments, reinsurance, information technology etc. He was General Manager and Director with the National Insurance Company Limited and the Managing Director of GIC till July 31, 2004.

Ramanujam has served as a faculty member at the National Insurance Academy, Pune. He is a guest faculty at the Institute of Financial & Management Research, Chennai in the area of risk management & insurance. He was also the Chairman of the committee appointed by the interim Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) for prescribing norms, rules and regulations in the area of finance. He has also been a member of two other IRA committees on technical issues and investment matters and Insurance Regulatory Information System. He was a member of FICCI's Reinsurance Sub-Committee as also of the Insurance Tariff Advisory Committee of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). He is currently a member of the Educational Advisory Council of the school of Management, SRM University, Tamil Nadu. 

Basudeb Sen (61) has been on the Board of ITC since March 23,1995, first as a nominee and then as a representative of UTI, and from July 28, 2000 in his individual capacity. Sen has over 32 years of management experience in different areas of commercial banking, cold mining, development banking and investment management. He is an M.A. in Economics and a Ph.D. from Indian Statistical Institute, besides being an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.

Sen is on the Academic Advisory Committee of the Calcutta Business School also its Director. He has contributed several articles in academic / professional journals and financial papers on a wide range of issues related to management, economics, banking, financial markets and energy.

He has served as Chairman and Managing Director of the Industrial Investment Bank of India Limited and Executive Director of the Unit Trust of India. He has managed critical business responsibilities in various areas including strategic planning, risk management system, investment portfolio management and fund marketing and credit / project appraisal.

Sen has served as Chairman and / or Member of various working groups / committees set up by SEBI, RBI and Indian financial institutions and industry associations on such issues as consortium lending, corporate governance, institutional disinvestment, overseas investment by mutual funds, money markets and corporate debt restructuring. He has also served on the Boards of several companies in sectors like infrastructure, engineering, petrochemicals, electronics and financial services.

He is the Director on the Boards of South Asian Petrochem Ltd and SREI Venture Capital Limited, among others. 

B Vijayaraghavan (74) joined the ITC Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director on November 25, 1996. Vijayaraghavan was in the Indian Administrative Service from 1957 to 1993, when he retired in the rank of Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu. He has served as Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government in the Public Works, Forests & Fisheries, Prohibition and Excise and Home departments. He has been the Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Member - Board of Revenue and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Tamil Nadu, Chairman and President, Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited, Chairman and Managing Director - State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu and Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner for Administrative Reforms, Tamil Nadu. During this period, he had also chaired various government committees concerning forests, wildlife, environment and reform of sales tax laws and administration.

After his retirement from Government service, Vijayaraghavan was a Member of the Syndicates of Alagappa University and Bharathidasan University, Member of the Governing Council, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History and Member of the Committee for Economic Reforms, Jammu and Kashmir and a Trustee of the Indian Bank Mutual Fund and arbitrator for disputes between the public sector coal companies and the State Electricity Boards of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Vijayaraghavan is currently Chairman, Chennai Snake Park Trust.