Indo Rama group sees exodus of top brass

As many as six top functionaries have left the Rs 2,000-crore Indo Rama group in the last several months.

It started when Arun Kapoor, who was holding the portfolio of president (corporate) at Indo Rama Synthetics Ltd, the group flagship, quit to move on to an industrial equipment company late last year. He had worked with the company for nearly a year and a half.

Kapoor was followed by his successor Ashok Kumar Chadha who quit the company in February, though he had been elevated to the post of president (corporate) only in January 2004. Earlier, he was in charge of the company's polyester strategic business unit (SBU). Chadha had joined the company from Haldia Petrochemicals.

When contacted, IRSL officials said there was no problem with the HR policies of the company and there were also no differences of opinion with the people who had left. A company spokesperson said: "Top executives keep weighing their options and if they get a better offer, they are free to move."

Shantanu Banerjee, vice-president (HR) of IRSL, too, quit recently after a brief stint with the company. He had joined the firm in September 2003 from Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd. Banerjee has been replaced with Somen Das, who has been picked up from within the company.

Others who have moved out of Indo Rama's team include Rajeev Agarwal, Shailendra Tandon and Ravi Deol.

Rajeev Agarwal who was president of Indo Rama Textiles, the company into which the Rs 330 crore spun yarn business of IRSL was de-merged in 2002, has reportedly gone back to his previous company "" Essar and is now placed abroad. He has been replaced with Rajiv Dayal who has been with the company for a couple of years.

Shailendra Tandon, who had served the IRSL as its chief financial officer before being given a berth on the board of directors of IRIL, has also left. He is learnt to have signed up with a Delhi-based agri-machinery major. Abhinandan Chatterjee, who was earlier with SmithKlineBeecham, is now the CFO of IRSL.

Also, the company lost Ravi Deol as a consultant to Indo-Rama's grocery retail chain with the retail business failing to take off. He was the former managing director of Barista and had joined Indo Rama Retail Holdings after he resigned from Barista in 2003.