The independent directors on the Raymond board have hired a senior independent lawyer, Berjis Desai, to advise them on the feud between Chairman Gautam Singhania and his estranged wife Nawaz Modi.
The Singhania family owns 49.11 per cent of the equity of the company, which has seen an erosion in shareholder value since the news of the separation became public last month. Modi has alleged corporate governance lapses in the company. She has also said she had raised issues regarding alleged misuse of company funds during a November 8 board meeting.
In a statement, the independent directors said they have been meeting and monitoring the situation and that they are committed to protecting the interests of non-promoter minority shareholders, employees and other stakeholders.
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Surinder Kumar, Dinesh Kumar Lal, Mukeeta Pramit Jhaveri, Ashish Kiran Kapadia and Kummamuri Narasimha Murthy are the independent directors on the Raymond board. Nawaz Modi is also on the board.
“The IDs (independent directors) are alert to ensure that the matrimonial disputes between the two promoter directors do not in any manner affect the capacity of the Chairman & Managing Director (Gautam Singhania) to manage the affairs and business of the company,” the statement said.
“However, it may be appreciated that neither any law nor any corporate governance standard requires ID to enquire into, investigate, or delve into the merits or otherwise, of such matrimonial disputes, which lie beyond the remit of the ID,” they said. But the independent directors added that they will not hesitate to initiate measures to protect the interests of all stakeholders.
“The IDs would like to assure the stakeholders that the IDs shall act dispassionately. The paramount consideration shall always be the interests of the company as a whole and its non-promoter shareholders,” IDs said. Any material development or remedial measures which impacts the company will be forthwith communicated in a spirit of complete transparency, they assured.
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Raymond has lost significant market valuation since November 13 after Singhania announced that he and Nawaz Modi had separated. On December 1, Raymond shares rose 4.01 per cent to Rs 1,563.05 on the exchanges.
The company earned revenue of Rs 5,779 crore and net profit of Rs 410 crore in FY23.