Professionals' exodus continues at HM; another VP quits

Trouble torn Hindustan Motors, the maker of Ambassador car, is further jolted by resignation of another top executive even as the management has pinned hopes for a turnaround on new professionals.

According to industry sources, Hindustan Motors (HM) Vice President (Component) KSR Murthy put in his paper today, thus joining the long list of executives, who have left the firm in recent months.

Asked about the exodus of the officials, a company spokesperson said: "As the automotive market is very buoyant, there are opportunities in the market leading to normal attrition related to the industry.

"HM has hired/is hiring many senior and top notch professionals in the recent times replacing non performers and filling up the vacancies arising out of restructuring. These new professionals form the team, which will take HM on the course of turnaround and growth."

In May, HM had announced approaching the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) as its accumulated losses at the end of financial year March 31, 2010, which resulted in erosion of over 50 per cent of its peak net worth during the preceding four financial years.

For the fiscal 2009-10, HM's net loss was at Rs 42.85 crore, with net sales of Rs 576.90 crore.

According to industry sources, Murthy will be in the company till October 15, serving his notice period.

"Besides Murthy, the company's marketing services manager Arjun Bakshi has also resigned recently," a source said.

Murthy and Bakshi joined the list of senior people, including Chief General Manager (Sales and Marketing) Ratan Singh, who have left Hindustan Motors (HM) in recent months.

Sources also said 3-4 other people at managerial level have left the company in the last few weeks.

"People are dis-satisfied with the functioning of the management, who has shifted many employees unnecessarily from their posts in the last few months," another source said.

Earlier, Assistant General Manager (North Zone) Romesh Lalwani had quit in July and Executive Vice President Moloy Chowdhury had submitted his resignation in June.

In May, the company's Managing Director R Santhanam had also resigned and Manoj Jha had replaced him for a period of five years.

Commenting on the series of exits of the top officials, the spokesperson said: "HM is undergoing a transformation, where in the revised organisation structure some positions have been merged or eliminated, thus some people have become redundant.

"In the process of restructuring and transformation, some professionals, whose performance and contribution was less than expected, have been exited as an affirmative action."

Sources, however, said that salaries are being delayed at HM. Besides, advance money collected from dealers is being utilised for other purposes, thereby resulting in delay of up to three months in delivery of vehicles to them.

The company, which counts sales of partner Mitsubishi's products with its own Ambassador, sold 845 units in July as against 663 in the same month last year. In the current fiscal, its sales have reached 2,966 units compared to 2,372 in the year-ago period.