Dunlop Finance Chief Madeka Puts In Papers

In a continuation of the unfolding Dunlop controversy, Anju Madeka, the chief of finance at Dunlop India, is believed to have put in her papers.

She was among the three executives who were summoned to Dubai recently by company boss Manohar Rajaram Chabbria.

The other two executives S Badrinathan, chief of the tyre business group, and Amit Mondal, chief of the industrial products business group would, however, continue in the company.

Madeka, who joined Dunlop in November 1993 as a vice president from group company Shaw Wallace, was elevated to the post of senior vice president, finance, in three years.

 

The resignation of Madeka follows close on the heels of former managing director M D Shukla, who resigned on Monday as a sequel to a bruising battle between the management and the non-resident non-executive chairman of the company.

Shuklas resignation was accepted at the Dunlop board meeting on Monday. Shukla had joined the tyre company in August 1993. Madeka is believed to be a close associate of the former managing director and is a chartered accountant.

Dunlop has, as part of its immediate strategy, constituted a three-member interim committee to deliberate on the day-to-day activities of the company.

The board meeting at Mumbai inducted three trusted associates of M R Chabbria on the new steering committee. P J Rao, executive director, Shaw Wallace, T S Shettigar, finance director of the Dubai-based Jumbo International Holdings, and Chabbrias daughter Komal Chabbria Wazir.

The constitution of the present interim panel is akin to a stand taken by the NRI chairman for his liquor flagship, Shaw Wallace in 1994, when an interim panel was constituted on the same lines.

This interim committee, which managed the SWC affairs during the crisis ridden period between 1994-96, with the exit of the then managing director Nari Narayan and induction of Ravi Jain, the present chief.

Rao and Shettigar, apart from the key members of the steering committee will also hold charge as additional directors on the board of the beleaguered tyre major.

With the resignation of Shukla, Dunlop India is left with no whole-time executive director on board.

The newly constituted panel does not include any Dunlop directors. Currently, the Dunlop board members are M S Godhwani, son-in-law of Chhabria, Bansi S Mehta, a director also on Shaw Wallace board, P K Puri, S N Sundaresan (formerly of LIC) and K Tazawa.