Rajat Gupta resigns as ISB chairman

Rajat Gupta, the former McKinsey & Co chief accused of insider trading in the US, has resigned from chairmanship of Indian School of Business, a Hyderabad-based B-School, today.

Putting an end to the speculation that loomed large over the issue of his resignation, the ISB confirmed his resignation and is on the lookout for a new chairman for the executive committee of the board.

"Rajat Gupta has requested the ISB executive board to relieve him of his board responsibilities till his pending matter with the US SEC is resolved. This, and the appointment of the new chairman, will be tabled at the upcoming board meeting on April 2, 2011," an ISB spokesperson said.

Gupta, who is the co-founder of ISB, may not attend the upcoming board meeting scheduled for April 2, sources said.

A McKinsey veteran, Gupta has decided to take "leave of absence" from management of $1.4-billion PE fund New Silk Route, which he co-founded five years ago.

Earlier, Indian-American Rajat Gupta had resigned from three corporate boards, including American Airlines.

Gupta, a former board member of Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble, has denied the charges level against him by the American regulator.

"We also note the statement of counsel for Rajat Gupta, which asserts that the allegations are totally baseless. The ISB community is confident that Rajat Gupta will be vindicated. He continues to be the Chairman of the ISB executive board," ISB had said in a statement earlier.

ISB is a premier business school in the country and has academic alliances with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, among others.