The Hindu Business Line : BSE chairman Shekhar Datta, director Jamshyd Godrej quit

Mumbai, June 19 Bickering among shareholder-directors over the functioning of the Bombay Stock Exchange board seems to have led to the sudden resignation of its Chairman, Mr Shekhar Datta, and the Director, Mr Jamshyd Godrej, on Wednesday.

Information Leakage

“One of the shareholder directors (earlier known as public interest directors) had shot of an e-mail faulting the day-to-day functioning of the exchange. This could have triggered the resignations,” said a BSE source.

However, market talk also indicates that the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, had ticked off the BSE board over possible information leakage regarding Ranbaxy’s stake sale to Daiichi Sankyo. It is said that though Ranbaxy and Daiichi Sankyo announced the deal on Wednesday (June 11), a section of marketmen got wind of the deal on Monday (June 9) itself, the source said.

SEBI, when contacted, did not want to comment on the issue. Though the Sensex plunged by 506 points on Monday, Ranbaxy share rose by 3.86 per cent to Rs 526.40. On Tuesday, the Sensex fell by 177 points, but the Ranbaxy scrip shot up by 6.52 per cent to Rs 560.75. It touched a high of Rs 592.70, before closing flat at Rs 560.80, on Wednesday, after both the companies made the deal public.

The BSE is set to call for an extraordinary general meeting soon to fill the vacancies created by the resignations of Mr Datta and Mr Godrej. Mr Datta was inducted on the board in 2006. He took over as the BSE Chairman when Mr Jagdish Capoor quit last September. Mr Datta was the former Managing Director & President of Greaves Cotton Ltd. He is also on the board of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.

Shareholders’ approval

Mr Godrej, who is the Chairman & Managing Director of Godrej & Boyce, is reported to have said that he was hard pressed for time. Deutsche Boerse and Singapore Exchange, which hold five per cent each, have evinced interest to nominate a director. “Both the foreign investors can collectively or individually have a representation, but again they have to win the shareholders’ approval,” said an analyst.

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