Birla says bye to Tata Steel

Aditya Birla group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has resigned from the board of Tata Steel. The company informed the stock exchanges today that Birla had tendered his resignation as a director of Tata Steel from August 14.

Birla had attended only one out of the seven board meetings of Tata Steel in 2005-06. He did not attend the last two annual general meetings as well.

Sources in the Aditya Birla group said the decision was aimed at ensuring that Birla paid more attention to the various committees and institutions he was involved with. He resigned from the board of Maruti Udyog last month.

The AV Birla Group and the Tatas recently had a major disagreement over the ownership of Idea Cellular. However, the issue was resolved later, with the Birla group acquiring the Tata group's holding.

In addition to leading a diversified group (he is the chairman of eight listed companies), Birla is a member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council, the Uttar Pradesh government's investment task force, and committees of the Reserve Bank of India, and Confederation of Indian Industries.

He is also the chairman of the Advisory Committee to Ministry of Commerce and Board of Trade. Besides, he is on the board of Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), and Pilani Institute of Technologies.

Basant Kumar Birla, the chairman of the B K Birla group, and Kumar Mangalam's grandfather, told Business Standard that the Birla group's holding in Tata Steel remained unchanged. He said, "There has been no change in our shareholding, and we have no intention to sell."

The Birla group's association with Tata Steel began in the time of Basant Kumar's father Ghanshyam Das Birla.

Pilani Investment and Industries Corporation, the investment arm of the BK-Kumar Mangalam Birla grouping, holds 45,31,790 shares in Tata Steel, according to Pilani's annual report for 2005-06. At the ruling market price, the value of the holding works out to around Rs 241 crore. Kumar Mangalam does not hold any Tata Steel share.

In addition to Tata group Chairman Ratan N Tata, the other directors of Tata Steel include Nusli N Wadia, S M Palia, P K Kaul, Suresh Krishna, Ishaat Hussain, J J Irani, B Muthuraman, T Mukherjee, and A N Singh.

Keshub Mahindra, the chairman of the Mahindra & Mahindra group, resigned from the board in March.