Shareholders of ITC have approved re-appointment of its non-executive chairman Y C Deveshwar for another two years to February, 2022. Close to 90 per cent of the shareholders, who voted, supported the resolution.

The firm had sought shareholders’ approval to re-appoint Deveshwar, 71, for two years to February 3, 2022 from February 5, 2020, given its increasing size and complexity. Deveshwar, who had shed his executive role from February, 2017, after being at the helm of the company for more than two decades, became a non-executive chairman for three years till 2020.

In a stock exchange filing, ITC said around 89.24 per cent shareholders, who participated in the process, voted in favour of the resolution to re-appoint Deveshwar as the non-executive director and chairman for the period of two years from February 5, 2020, while around 10.76 per cent voted against it.

The company also got shareholders’ nod for re-appointment of Sanjiv Puri as the managing director for a period of five years, with effect from July 22, 2019. According to the filing, 99.25 per cent of votes cast were in favour of this resolution. Puri, 56, is the MD of ITC, effective from May 16, 2018. He was appointed as chief executive officer from February 5, 2017, taking independent charge of the executive leadership of the company.

The company has reported a 10.08 per cent year-on-year rise in its standalone net profit to Rs 2,818.68 crore for the first quarter this fiscal, as revenue from non-cigarette FMCG business soared during the period.

The company, in a statement, said in this segment, robust growth in Ebitda (up 86 per cent to 128 crore) during the June quarter was driven by enhanced scale, product mix enrichment and cost management initiatives, notwithstanding higher investments in brand building and gestation costs of new categories.

Addressing the shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday, Deveshwar said at present, over 80 per cent of the operating capital and about 90 per cent of the employee base of the company were deployed in the non-cigarette businesses.