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Vikram Thapar resigns from Ballarpur board

BS corporate bureau

Vikram Thapar, son of Inder Mohan Thapar, has resigned from the board of directors of Ballarpur Industries Ltd, the flagship of his uncle Lalit Mohan Thapar.

Vikram, who was serving as the joint managing director of the company, tendered his resignation at a meeting of the Bilt board in New Delhi on Thursday.

Vikram's resignation has reduced the number of Thapar family members on the company board from four to three. The family members still serving on the board of directors are Lalit Mohan Thapar, his brother Man Mohan Thapar and his nephew Gautam Thapar.

Vikram's resignation marks the culmination of his gradual exit from Bilt. In 1998, Vikram and Gautam were both appointed joint managing directors of Bilt. Gautam took charge of both paper and chemicals (he was made managing director) and Vikram moved to take control of the cash-rich KCT Coal Sales, aquaculture firm Waterbase and India City Properties, a real estate company which owns prime real estate including Janpath House, the Thapar headquarters in downtown New Delhi. Some months back, Gautam was elevated as vice-chairman and managing director.

However, Vikram's resignation has not come as a surprise. In a formal division of business in the Thapar family some months back, it was also decided that cross-holdings in group companies will be sorted out between the four factions of the family, and family members will resign from the boards of each other's companies.

By resigning from the Bilt board, Vikram has set the ball rolling for a realignment of the boards of Thapar group companies.

In another development, Bilt chief financial officer B Hariharan was co-opted on the board. He has now been redesignated director (finance). Hariharan is the second executive director on the board.

Last year, executive vice-president and chief operating officer (paper division) R R Vederah had been inducted into the company's board as director (operations).

At Thursday's meeting, ICICI appointed M J Subbaiah as its nominee on the Bilt board in place of Sandeep Bakshi. The 10-member Bilt board now has three representatives of the Thapar family, three nominees of financial institutions, three public nominees and one representative of the Murjan family, which holds a 14 per cent stake in the company.

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