Decision to sack Gurumani was unanimous: SKS

SKS Microfinance today said the decision to sack its MD and CEO Suresh Gurumani was taken "unanimously" by the company's board.

The country's largest micro finance company in a late night statement also said that one of the directors, Ashish Lakhanpal, has "tendered his resignation so that at least 50 per cent of the board is independent as per the requirement of the listing agreement".

Meanwhile, amid the controversy over Gurumani's sacking and clarifications sought by regulators, SKS Microfinance Chairman and Founder Vikram Akula earlier in the day met Reserve Bank officials.

The statement said, "The directors present, or otherwise participating in the meeting, unanimously decided to terminate the employment of Gurumani as MD and CEO."

There were no dissenting votes, it added.

Two months after raising Rs 1,600 crore through an initial public offer, the company on October 4 terminated the services of Gurumani with immediate effect by passing a resolution at the board meeting and named M R Rao as his successor.

"Eight out of 10 directors were present or otherwise participating in the meeting; the two directors not present were Gurumani, who refused to participate, and another director who was traveling in the US and unable to attend the meeting and not reachable by audio conference," the statement said.

It further added that with the appointment of Rao as a director and MD, there would have been a majority of non- independent directors (6 of11). "Therefore, as disclosed to stock exchanges Lakhanpal tendered his resignation...," it said.

Shares of SKS today fell 0.18 per cent to close at Rs 1,226 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

A chartered accountant, Gurumani joined SKS as the CEO in November 2008 after a sting with Barclays.

SKS Microfinance was founded as a non-profit organisation in late 1997. It received a non-banking finance company licence from the Reserve Bank of India in 2006.

As of March 31, SKS had 6.78 million women borrowers and total disbursements of more than Rs 14,000 crore.