Gautam Singhania steps down as Raymond Apparel chairman

Gautam Singhania has stepped down as the chairman of Raymond Apparel Ltd, the company informed the BSE on Wednesday.

Adman Nirvik Singh was appointed non-executive chairman of the Raymond group subsidiary, which owns Park Avenue, Color Plus, Parx and Raymond Ready-to-Wear brands. Singh, a veteran advertising and communications professional, is currently the Chairman & CEO, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa of Grey Group Asia Pacific.

Company officials said Singhania resigned because he wanted seasoned executives to professionalise Raymond Apparel's management and enhance corporate governance. “I have always believed in setting the highest standard of governance and have always advocated to run the business professionally.” said Singhania, who is chairman and managing director of Raymond Ltd. He will continue to be on the board of Raymond Apparel.

"The transformational journey and new innings has started," Singhania, who took control of the apparel company in 2015, had said in an interview to Business Standard recently.

Singhania quit as chairman of JK Helene Curtis in 2017, making way for former PepsiCo CEO Rajeev Bakshi. Singhania remains a director on JK Helene Curtis.

"Family-owned and professionally-run is how it (business) will be" Singhania had said then. 

Besides Singh, Raymond Apparel also inducted Berggruen Hotels CEO Anshu Sarin as non-executive director and Nepean Capital co-founder and managing partner Gautam Trivedi as independent director, the statement said.

Raymond Apparel generated Rs 14.24 billion as revenue in FY18 and it is the group’s second largest company after the textiles business. Raymond Apparel makes 14,000 suits daily, or over 4 million a year.