Raymond group chairman Gautam Singhania to step down as head of all group companies

Raymond Group Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Singhania is planning to step down as chairman from all group companies, according to media reports. Singhania said he would dissociate himself from day-to-day functioning to build an organisation which can run competitively and independently without the involvement of the promoter, a report in The Economic Times said. In November 2018, Singhania stepped down as the chairman of Raymond’s branded apparel arm with a view to run the company more professionally. He has also exited the group’s FMCG entities, Singhania said. Singhania will soon exit the group’s two engineering entities—JK Files and Ring Plus Aqua—for which he is already looking for a professional chairman, according to The Economic Times report_._ He may also move out from the top post of the flagship entity, Raymond Ltd, the report said. Meanwhile, Singhania who has been having a family feud with his father, Vijaypat Singhania said in an interview he was willing to discuss issues with him. [caption id=“attachment_122300” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Gautam Singhania, chairman and managing director, Raymond. Reuters[/caption] Singhania and his father, Vijaypat, chairman emeritus of the Raymond Group have been engaged in a legal battle over a duplex apartment in the 36-storey redeveloped JK House in south Mumbai. In a petition filed in the Bombay High Court in 2016, Vijaypat Singhania had claimed that his son was refusing to honour an arbitration order which awarded the duplex apartment to the former. Singhania had filed a plea in the Bombay High Court seeking an injunction on his father Vijaypat Singhania’s proposed autobiography, The Incomplete Man and also sought a copy of the book’s manuscript.   He claimed the book contained defamatory statements which would cause damage to his reputation. The court, however, noted that there was no prima facie case to believe and accept Gautam Singhania’s apprehensions on the contents of the proposed book. In an interview to The Times of India, Singhania made an offer to his father to stay with his family. “If he (father) has a problem, we can sit and discuss why should he write this book. I am ready to sit across and resolve the issue if he does not have a problem,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Singhania thought he was keeping his billion-dollar textile empire in the family when he gifted control of the Raymond Group to his son Gautam three years ago. But their relationship has disintegrated since, with the father accusing the son of cheating him out of an exclusive apartment and of unceremoniously kicking him out of the company offices. Vijaypat now bitterly regrets his decision, which he claims was made because of “emotional blackmailing”, marking the latest in a long line of high-profile family feuds to scar corporate India. The 80-year-old transformed a small textile business into a household name in India, and the Raymond Group today claims to be the world’s biggest producer of high-quality worsted wool suits. --With inputs from agencies     To keep watching India’s No. 1 English Business News Channel – CNBC-TV18, call your Cable or DTH Operator and ask for the Colors Family Pack (inclusive of 24 channels), available for Rs. 35/- per month, or subscribe to the channel for Rs. 4/- per day. To keep watching the Leader in Global Market & Business News – CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, call your Cable or DTH Operator and ask for the Colors Family HD Pack (inclusive of 25 channels), available for Rs. 50/- per month, or subscribe to the channel for Rs. 1/- per day.