Worlds Window Impex promoter quit company board in May, show govt data

Piyoosh Goyal, who is accused of bribing a State Bank of India official, holds 32% stake in the company

Piyoosh Goyal, the promoter of Worlds Window Impex (WWI) who is accused of bribing a State Bank of India official, quit the company’s board six months ago, according to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings.

According to the latest annual return dated October 31, 41-year-old Goyal was the company’s director since its inception in 1997 till May 10 this year.

Though the Worlds Window Group’s websites continue to refer to him as the chairman, he is just a shareholder in the company. The return showed he held 2.05 million shares or 32.48 per cent in WWI. The annual return was signed by two directors, Naveen Agrawal and Vipul Aneja.

While Agrawal has been on the company’s board since 2000, Aneja was named director in September. The group’s website says, “Naveen Agarwal has over 10 years of experience in the areas of trading, logistics, manufacturing and administration. He is on the directorial team of Worlds Window Impex India Private Ltd (WWIIPL), and also handles the aluminium composite panels business. He manages production, marketing and finance in entirety.” Agrawal holds 100 shares in the company.

WWIIPL is the group’s flagship enterprise that deals in metals and metal scrap trading.

Two other companies, Mangalam Apartments and Dharitrimaa Urja, hold the remaining 1.17 million shares in the company. Interestingly, their registered address is the same as WWI’s. Goyal's father, Mahesh, is the mentor with the group. The group’s website lists a former Shipping Corporation official and a former chairman & managing director of MMTC as advisors.

An official, who received a call on the number listed as Goyal’s on some of the group’s websites, said he dealt with the infrastructure companies of the group and the incident did not relate to his division. He denied any further knowledge of the group’s affairs.   

Rotterdam-based International Metal and Steel holds 3.09 million shares or 49 per cent in the firm.

Goyal, who lives in Delhi’s upmarket Sainik Farms, is credited with taking the group into new areas. The company has made strong strides in multi-modal logistics with inland container depots and cold storages in Delhi, Kandla (Gujarat) and Nagpur (Maharashtra).

WWIIPL, based in Delhi’s Khirki village, imports and trades in ferrous and nonferrous metals, metal scrap and gold. It is one of the top importers of metal scrap in India and is an established scrap trader in north India.

In 2012, CARE Ratings had upgraded the company from BBB- to BBB.  In its report, CARE said: “Being a trading concern, the company mainly requires bank facilities for meeting its working capital needs. Over the years, the gearing (a ratio measuring a company’s debt) has been moderately comfortable with low long-term loans on the books coupled with strong networth base of the company. The overall gearing of the company increased from 0.33x as on March 31, 2010, to 0.54x as on March 31, 2011. It, however, remains comfortable. The increase in debt was attributable to increase in inter-corporate loans and higher working-capital borrowings. The interest-coverage ratio has improved over the last year due to improvement in the operating profits.”

Then, the company had long-term loans of Rs 65 crore  and working-capital loans of Rs 225 crore.  

Goyal is also a philanthrophist, the group’s website suggests. He runs an ISKCON Food Relief Foundation.