Ganguly on Century board, Lodha blocked

Century Textiles & Industries Ltd has appointed Amal Ganguly as an additional director to fill the vacancy created following the demise of Priyamvada Birla.

The move assumes significance as the appointment blocked the entry of R S Lodha, the controversial beneficiary of Priyamvada Birla's assets, to Century Textiles, the mother lode of family fortune and the jewel in the crown of the Birlas.

Also, the appointment of an independent director maintained equal representation of three Birla branches""Basant Kumar, Sudarshan Kumar and Chandra Kant"" on the board.

In fact, all the chiefs of the branches are on the board and Basant Kumar is the chairman. Independent directors, in addition to Ganguly, are Pradip Kumar Daga, Arvind C Dalal and B L Jain.

A former chairman of PwC, Ganguly is close to many family-run business empires in the country. He was instrumental in formulating the division of assets in the Thapar family.

Effected from July 31, the appointment was for a year till the next annual general meeting of the company.

Priyamvada, who breathed her last on July 3, joined the Century board three-and-a-half years ago. Her reappointment was due at the last AGM on July 20.

S K Birla who had presided over the meeting told the shareholders that the resolution pertaining to her re-appointment became infructuous with her death.

The shareholders had passed a resolution which reduced the number of directors from 11 to eight. The reduction was owing to resignation of board slots by the representatives of Life Insurance Corporation, Unit Trust of India and Industrial Development Bank of India.

Century was among the first takeover by legendary Ghanshyam Das Birla. Promoted as Century Spinning & Weaving Mills by the Wadia family in 1898, it had passed into the hands of Chunilal Mehta, a nephew of Walchand Hirachand, in 1951.

During the split of assets among the Birlas after the death of G D Birla, the managing control passed to the B K Birla group.