ITC Ltd. names Sanjiv Puri as COO

ITC Ltd has appointed Sanjiv Puri as its Chief Operating Officer, signalling that he’s most likely to take over from YC Deveshwar as CEO when he steps down in February after two decades at the helm. As COO, 53-year-old Puri becomes the second most important executive in the tobacco-FMCG-hospitality conglomerate after Deveshwar, who will be staying on as non-executive chairman, according to the schedule announced last month. Puri will now oversee day-to-day operations of the company as COO, a position created for the first time at ITC. Puri is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and joined ITC in 1986. He has handled a wide range of responsibilities including manufacturing, operations and the IT business.