Hpl Board Slot Vacant As Idbi Nominee Resigns

The slot for one of the Industrial Development Bank of India nominees on the board of the Rs 5,200-crore Haldia Petrochem-icals Ltd (HPL) has fallen vacant with G Goswami putting in his papers.

Goswami, presently the chairman-cum-managing director of the Industrial Investment Bank of India (IIBI), had been serving as the IDBI nominee for around a year. He had been inducted into the HPL board by virtue of his earlier posting as chief general manager of the IDBI zonal office in Calcutta.

I resigned as it is not prudent to serve on the board of any joint sector or private sector company while heading a public sector financial institution. The IDBI will be putting a nominee soon. There is no other reason for my resignation, Goswami told Business Standard.

 

Although deliberations are on about the next incumbent, no decision about the FI nominee has been concretised, says an HPL board member.

Normally, the IDBI has two nominees on the HPL board one from the head office in Mumbai and one from the Calcutta zonal office. The nominee from the head office still remains on the board.

Other changes in the board are also expected with Tapan Mitra, vice-chairman-cum-managing director of Indian Aluminium Ltd, reportedly slated to be re-inducted into the board in the capacity of a non-executive chairman.

The state government is on the look out for a chairman as the last incumbent Anish Majumdar retired as the state chief secretary.

Recently, the equity structure of the project underwent a radical change with the foreign equity stake being enhanced from around 22 per cent to about 71 per cent.

48.97 per cent of the foreign equity valued at Rs 969 crore will be raised through a combination of private placements of foreign currency convertible bonds, foreign currency bonds repayable from an initial public offering, and either a GDR or an ADR issue.

The main promoters of the project are the Soros-Chatterji group, The West Bengal Industrial Development Corp-oration and the Tatas in the ratio 3:3:1. Around 50 per cent of the promoters equity (Rs 505 crore) has already been paid up.