Ajit Narain Haksar

Ajit Narain Haksar (11 January 1925 – 19 May 2005) was the first Indian chairman of ITC Limited and on retirement was voted the Chairman Emeritus of the company.

ITC

Haksar joined ITC in 1948 as a trainee in Marketing, and was rose to become the marketing director in 1966. By 1968, Haksar was made deputy chairman and was then instated as chairman in 1969. He retired from ITC in 1983 after 34 years with the company, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Jagdish Narain Sapru. Haksar was known as the chairman who first took ITC out of purely the tobacco industry and into hotels and paperboards.

In 1995, he founded the EMPI Business School Group, New Delhi, and served as the founder patron chairman till his death.

Personal life He was married to Mrs. Madhuri Haksar, with whom he had a daughter and a son.

Autobiography Autobiography, Bite the Bullet: Thirty-four Years with ITC, New Delhi, India: Viking, Penguin Books India, (1993) 536 p.