ITC Ltd announced the retirement of two top executives on Friday, pitchforking Sanjiv Puri, the cigarettes and FMCG business head, as the front runner to succeed long serving chairman Y C Deveshwar who is scheduled to hang up his boots in 2017.

The cigarette to hotels company informed the stock exchanges that two of its three executive directors— PV Dhobale and Kurush Grant— were retiring as the first had attained the age of superannuation while the second had taken premature retirement for health reasons.
The company has also appointed Puri, president FMCG business, and Rajiv Tandon, chief financial officer, as additional whole time directors on the board. Nakul Anand, 58, remains executive director for hotel and lifestyle business. While Anand is senior both in hierarchy and age to Puri, 52, the latter is being considered the favourite to succeed Deveshwar as he spearheads the business that accounts for more than 60% of ITC's revenues and 80% of its profits.
Puri was promoted last December last as the president of both the cigarettes and FMCG businesses of ITC, after handling FMCG distribution and cigarette business as divisional chief executive.