Singhania vs Singhania: Father and son battle for billion-dollar empire

NEW DELHI: Vijaypat Singhania concept he was once maintaining his billion-dollar textile empire in the family when he proficient regulate of the Raymond Group to his son Gautam three years in the past.

But their courting has disintegrated spectacularly since, with the daddy accusing the son of dishonest him out of a unique condominium and of unceremoniously kicking him out of the company offices.

Vijaypat now bitterly regrets his decision, which he claims was once made because of "emotional blackmail", marking the latest in a long lengthy line of high-profile family feuds to scar corporate India.

The 80-year-old transformed a small textile industry into a household title in India, and the Raymond Group these days claims to be the world's greatest producer of high quality worsted wool fits.

It is yet any other luck tale for one in all South Asia's nice entrepreneurial families -- other branches of the Singhania family have interests in cement, dairy and tech.

India ranks 3rd on this planet for the selection of family owned conglomerates, behind China and the United States, consistent with a contemporary Credit Suisse file.

And with more than its fair proportion of power struggles and a brand new generation itching to take regulate, some analysts say the rustic needs more international corporate requirements to raised govern such businesses.

It may help keep away from the type of sparring that took place in the Ambani family.

Mukesh Ambani, recently Asia's richest man, fought together with his brother Anil for years over the Reliance conglomerate after their father Dhirubhai died without leaving a will.

Hostilities have been way more intense between liquor and belongings baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep, who killed every other in a 2012 shootout as they fought over their corporate.

And assault accusations have flown between billionaires Shivinder and Malvinder Singh as they battle for the family pharmaceutical empire.

Brother attacked me: Malvinder; no, he hit me, claims Shivinder

Malvinder, former chairman and MD of Fortis Healthcare, alleged that his younger brother, Shivinder Mohan Singh, assaulted him on Wednesday. Shivinder denied the allegation and said that it was once Malvinder who hit him. Malvinder told TOI that Shivinder was once trying to disrupt a board assembly of a group corporate which he claimed has lent around Rs 2,000 cr.


Vijaypat Singhania's troubles started after he handed over his 37-per cent controlling stake in 2015.

Under a 2007 settlement to settle a separate family tussle, Vijaypat says he was once intended to obtain an condominium in the Singhania family's 36-storey JK House in the upmarket Malabar Hill space of Mumbai, India's financial capital.

The price agreed was once some distance under the marketplace price of the flat -- which is in the tens of tens of millions of bucks -- and Gautam prompt the Raymond board towards selling a valuable corporate asset.

As the feud escalated, the board additionally took away Vijaypat's "chairman emeritus" title, accusing him of the usage of abusive language in letters to the company. And he claims he was once physically got rid of from his administrative center and his possessions -- including a Padma Bhushan, one of the country's best civilian honours -- have been stolen.

Vijaypat, who says he has not spoken to his son in two years, now plans to test a contemporary court docket ruling that allows folks to take back proficient belongings from their kids under a 2007 regulation if they don't have their fundamental needs met.

He describes handing Raymond over to Gautam as "the height of stupidity", and the beginning of a marketing campaign to oust him from the 93-year-old industry he once helmed.

"I would advise parents everywhere not to make the mistake of giving away all your savings to your children during your lifetime," said the elder Singhania, an accomplished aviator who in 2005 set the world report for the very best flight in a sizzling air balloon.

But Gautam has said he was once simply doing his activity.

"It was the right thing to do. My responsibility as a son is different from as chairman of Raymond. Here is a board member (Vijaypat) who is using his position of the board to take company assets," Gautam told the Economic Times last year.

"I am the victim. What have I done wrong?"

Raymond Group has it sounds as if not suffered from the dispute. It reported a 50-percent benefit upward thrust for the second one quarter of 2018, not too long ago opened a significant manufacturing unit in Ethiopia, and is now exporting to more than 55 nations.

India's corporate family quarrels need to be addressed, consistent with Pranav Sayta, a partner on the Ernst and Young consultants.

"The business environment today is far more complex and the stakes are much higher," he said.

"Culturally too, youngsters today are more impatient and they want to have a say in the business affairs. Some global best practices have not been implemented fully in India," in particular on separating ownership from management, he added.

And as was once the case with the Ambanis and the Chadhas, succession and family politics are incessantly on the core of these bitter disputes.


"Family feuds were always there but in light of these factors their probability has gone up several notches now," said Sayta. "The need to adopt best practices and put in place a clear and robust succession plan is more critical today."


A new taste of management made all the distinction at Raymond, Gautam Singhania claims.


"The whole game for me changed when I took shareholding control from my father," he told the Economic Times.


"I could take a lot of decisions to enhance growth which I was not able to do earlier."
Singhania vs Singhania: Father and son battle for billion-dollar empire Singhania vs Singhania: Father and son battle for billion-dollar empire Reviewed by Kailash on January 02, 2019 Rating: 5
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