Religare revamps board, appoints S Lakshminarayanan as executive chairman

Beleaguered financial services firm Religare Enterprises has revamped its board and management team. The company has appointed S Lakshminarayanan, former secretary, government of India, as executive chairman.

Lakshminarayanan is also the current chairman and independent director of Shriram Transport Finance Co. Meanwhile, promoter Malvinder Singh has relinquished his position as non-executive chairman and but will continue as a non-executive board member.

"We have always believed that a professional management should run a diversified and highly regulated business such as Religare. However in July 2016, due to sliding business performance, we had to return back on the board. Since then we have been engaging closely with the members of the board and the management to understand and address the issues and took a series of corrective measures to stabilise the company. We now feel the time has once again come for us to hand over the reins to a new committed professional team to drive Religare's future growth," said Singh.

Religare has also appointed Kishori Udeshi as an independent director on the Board. Udeshi was the first woman to be appointed as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The board of company is also exploring raising primary capital for Religare Enterprises and key subsidiaries. It also plans to induct new management in key positions, including finance, administration and human resources.

Anil Saxena has been replaced as CFO by Krishnan Subramaniam. While Mohit Maheshwari has stepped down from the position of the company secretary and compliance officer of the company. Religare said it plans to induct new management in key positions, including finance, administration and human resources. 
 

Shares of Religare Enterprises fell six per cent to close at Rs 42, valuing the company at Rs 750 crore. Shares of the company have dropped 85 per cent in the past one year.