Sunil Mittal to step down from Unilever's board

Lack of time was cited as the main reason for Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal's exit from the Unilever board

 

Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal has decided to step down from the board of Unilever Plc and is not seeking re-election as non-executive director in the annual general meeting to be held on May 15 in London. Unilever has cited lack of time by Mittal as the main reason for his departure from the board.
 
Mittal had joined the Unilever board in 2011 but as his executive duties back home increased over the years with Africa acquisition, he was unable to devote time to Unilever’s board meetings. A Unilever spokesperson said: “Mittal has decided to not seek re-election because he can't devote sufficient time to Unilever with current executive responsibilities elsewhere.”
 
This is the second high profile departure this year from a global board by an Indian after Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, stepped down from the board of Bank of America as a non-executive director. Ambani has moved on to the bank’s global advisory board and is not seeking re-election in the AGM to be held next month. A non-executive director position also has fiduciary duties while the advisory board does not attract any fiduciary responsibility. Ambani cited personal reasons to quit Bank of America board.

Among the other prominent departures of Indian executives from global boards are Tata group’s former chairman, Ratan Tata who quit the board of automobile major Fiat Spa last year but continues to be on the board of aluminium major Alcoa.
 
Corporate watchers say with the businesses of both Mittal and Ambani growing  day by day due to global acquisitions and local expansion, it is becoming difficult for them to devote full time to the board duties of foreign companies. “Besides, the regulatory action at home is taking a lot of management’s time,” a director of an IT firm said asking not to be quoted.

Interestingly, while the global companies were rewarding both Mittal and Ambani for their achievements, both business leaders are facing regulatory action in India. While Ambani’s Reliance Industries among other entities is facing an investigation by stock market regulator the Sebi for insider trading in the merger of Reliance Industries with Reliance Petroleum, Mittal is being tried by a CBI court in a case related to spectrum allocation in 2002.
 
The financial results for the fiscal 2013 show Bharti Airtel performance is not so rosy. The group is also facing rough weather in its African operations. Bharti posted a worse-than-expected 50 per cent year-on-year drop in net profit to Rs 509 crore for its fiscal fourth quarter to end-March while for the entire FY 2013, Bharti Airtel made a profit of Rs 2,276 crore -- its smallest annual profit in seven years.