No personality clash with sacked CEO: SKS

Claiming that there was no personality clash between the sacked CEO Suresh Gurumani and founder Vikram Akula, SKS Microfinance today said that the decision was in the best interest of the company.

The company, however, did not give the exact reason for terminating services of Gurumani four years before his contract was to end.

"There was no personality clash between Akula and Gurumani. The move is in the best interest of the company. There was no financial irregularity involved," SKS Microfinance spokesperson told PTI.

The Hyderabad-based company had yesterday terminated the services of Gurumani with immediate effect by passing a resolution at the board meeting and named M R Rao as his successor.

SKS, whose business includes giving small loans to poor people at rates much higher than regular banks, however, asserted that it was business as usual for them.

On whether there is any non-compete agreement between the company and Gurumani, the spokesperson said, "We have a non-compete agreement in place with Gurumani. On that we will wait and watch and decide on the future course of action."

The termination of the appointment comes within two months of the microfinance company clocking robust gains in its debut trade on the stock exchanges.

It was the first microfinance institution in India to go public by selling shares through an initial public offering through which it raised over Rs 1,600 crore.

Shares of SKS today closed 1.36 per cent down at Rs 1,259.20 on the BSE. The scrip had yesterday tanked 6 per cent, its biggest single day decline since listing in mid-August.

A chartered accountant, Gurumani joined SKS as the CEO in November 2008, from Barclays. Following which SKS founder Vikram Akula moved to the role of Chairman.

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.