Lodha to stay Grasim auditor

Chartered accountancy firm Lodha & Co has been re-appointed statutory auditors of the Aditya Birla group company, Grasim Industries, for a year at the firm's annual general meeting.

Executives with Grasim Industries said, "The resolution has been passed at the company's annual general meeting."

Other resolutions passed at yesterday's meeting included the adoption of the company's balance sheet for 2003-04.

The re-appointment of Lodha & Co comes amid speculation that the Birla family could show the door to the chartered accountancy firm following the controversy over Priyamvada Birla's will.

The will has bequeathed assets worth Rs 5,000 crore of the MP Birla group in favour of RS Lodha, the chairman of Lodha & Co.

Analysts tracking Grasim Industries claim the company's annual general meeting notice was sent out much before the controversy over Priyamvada Birla's will arose.

It is likely that shareholders may not favour the re-appointment of Lodha at the forthcoming annual general meetings of various Birla firms.

Lodha & Co has been associated with a dozen Birla companies, including Mangalam Cement, Mangalam Timber Products, Birla VXL, Mysore Cements, Indo Gulf Fertilisers, Siddharth Xpro and Saurashtra Chemicals.

It is learnt that Lodha & Co has resigned as statutory auditors from Birla Ericsson, an MP Birla group company. However, this could not be confirmed as Lodha was not available for comments.

The Birla family "" Krishna Kumar Birla, Basant Kumar Birla, Ganga Prasad Birla, Sudarshan Kumar Birla, Kumar Mangalam Birla, CK Birla, Siddharth Birla and Yashovardhan Birla "" have sent a legal notice seeking a certified copy of the will.

Lodha, also the co-chairman of the MP Birla group, read out the will to the Birlas, but has not handed over a copy of it to them.