Y.C. Deveshwar on Government Relations

Deveshwar's relationship with British American Tobacco (BAT) — the 29% shareholder in ITC — is described as the defining corporate battle of his career. In March 1995 BAT publicly claimed a lack of confidence in ITC chairman Krishan Lal Chugh, alleging financial irregularities in the power-generation business and pressing for a majority stake. In reality, Open reports, BAT wanted cash-rich ITC's funds for itself.

Deveshwar is quoted dubbing ITC 'India's Trademarks Corporation' — a phrase that recast the BAT-controlled cigarette maker as a national champion rather than a foreign subsidiary. The phrase mattered because it gave ITC a nationalist halo during the hostile takeover fight and aligned the company's identity with the post-liberalization ambition of Indian firms defining themselves against multinational parents.

Open credits Deveshwar with making ITC a global exemplar in sustainability — what current chairman Sanjiv Puri calls 'the only company in the world to become carbon positive, water positive and solid waste positive for over a decade'.

Deveshwar argues sustainability is a strategic asset. Beyond e-Choupal, he cites sourcing pulp from renewable plantations rather than cheaper imports to create tribal and marginal-farmer livelihoods; integrated watershed development covering over 56,000 hectares; animal husbandry services reaching over 450,000 milch animals; supplementary education for over 200,000 rural children; and roughly 30,000 women entrepreneurs created through about 1,...