Shaw Wallace Ltd (SWC) said the shift of its registered office from Kolkata to Mumbai or elsewhere in Maharashtra would have marginal impact as far as manpower or utilisation of real estate was concerned.
These concerns have emerged following the move by the M R Chhabria managed liquor giant to seek permission from shareholders to shift its registered office from here to Maharashtra at its forthcoming annual general meeting.
Sources said, "As a result of the shifting of the registered office from the state of West Bengal to the state of Maharashtra, the number of employees affected will be negligible. Principally, the move will entail shifting some secretarial functions associated with registered office that are, to a large extent, already outsourced in line with the contemporary industry practices".
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The company also owns huge estate in the city in both commercial and residential areas. The SWC registered office is presently at the massive Wallace House opposite the General Post Office and Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in the B B D Bagh area of the city. Residential accommodation held by the company in the city have mostly been surrendered if on rent, with owned properties being still held by it.
These were likely to be sold off in the future, said real estate sector sources.
Sources said, "There will be hardly any impact on the office space utilization. In any case Shaw Wallace will continue to have its regional offices and the offices of its various divisions at the current locations".
Till some years ago, SWC was one of the biggest employers in the city along with another Chhabria company, Dunlop India, which has its registered office at Dunlop House off Park Street. The value of Wallace House and Dunlop House can be assessed from the fact that a similar building was recently sold by ICI India to Reliance Industries for close to Rs 25 crore net. Dunlop has been negotiating with agencies of the government of West Bengal for a Rs 45 crore deal against transfer of some of its real estate in the city.
Some months ago, there were confrontations between a section of SWC's management and staff over at the registered office. Incidentally, Tinplate India Ltd, a Tata company, was one of the tenants of Wallace House. SWC still has breweries in West Bengal but overall, its operations had shrunk in size.
In the past, SWC had other businesses like plantations and shipping that had a clear eastern focus, but after the sale of these businesses, alcohol became its main business, sources pointed out. Also, the transfer of interest in Calcutta Chemicals, a subsidiary manufacturing cosmetics, cut off the last links that held SWC to the city. SWC still retains gelatines and some other small businesses.