Sanjay Kapoor's exit from Micromax not smooth

Kapoor would send legal notice for denying him employee stock options the firm owned during his 15-month stint

Sanjay Kapoor, a telecom sector veteran, has resigned from Micromax two weeks after he was served a termination notice by Micromax co-founder and managing director Rahul Sharma, stating that he had misappropriated fuel bills.

Kapoor has argued that the charges were baseless and would send a legal notice for denying him the employee stock options (ESOPs) the firm owned during his 15-month stint at India's largest phone-maker.

His resignation letter to Micromax directors on July 27, filed in the registrar  of companies, reveals a battle between him and the company. He says the termination notice was timed to "somehow deprive me of the ESOPs illegally".

The termination notice on July 10 alleges that Kapoor had inflated fuel bills. "I am entitled to ESOPs  and other benefits. The valuation of the company has immensely increased due to my efforts. I have successfully got the commitment of huge investment in the company, the fruit which the company has already started  to reap," wrote Kapoor in his letter.

Both Kapoor,  a former chief executive of Bharti Airtel for India and South Asia,  and Micromax have not responded to mails seeking their comments.

"Sanjay Kapoor has decided to move on. Appropriate announcements will be made in due course. We would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him luck for his future endeavour," the company said in a statement on August 28.

Micromax has been engaged in talks with China's Alibaba for over a year to invest $1 billion in the Indian handset maker but the investment has not materialised so far. The 25 per cent stake sale to Alibaba might have increased Micromax's valuation to $3.5 billion.

On August 7, Micromax revoked the stock options granted to Kapoor.

"The most unfortunate part of this pre-determined exercise is that the board has blindly and without any application of mind decided to terminate the services of its chairman when this particular item was not even on the agenda," writes Kapoor.