Henkel India's MD quits

CHENNAI: Jayant K Singh, the managing director of Henkel India, has resigned from the board of directors under mysterious circumstances. Domenicoluca Mammola, the CFO of the company, has been elevated as the joint MD.

Company sources said that Singh resigned on February 23 and the necessary filings were made with the regulators. However, there has been no filing with the stock exchanges about the exit of Singh.

Even on Tuesday Henkel said that its board met on February 8 and "authorised Jayant Singh or its CFO Domenicoluca Mammola to negotiate and finalise the proposal to dispose the movable assets of the hair care division of Henkel".

"Between February 8 and now, there has been a lot of change at Henkel. The German parent (which holds 50.97% in the company), wants to bring in changes within to facilitate the restructuring process which is currently on. There are allegations within the company that Singh did not resign, instead he was asked to leave on performance related issues," sources said.

Singh could not be reached for comment. He joined Henkel India in February 2009 with over 15 years experience in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry across a number of blue-chip organisations including Procter & Gamble, Mars, Gillette and GlaxoSmithkline.

A spokesperson for the company said Jayant K Singh resigned as the MD and director of Henkel India with effect from February 22 and the board accepted it. "Therefore, the position of Jayant K Singh as managing director and director of Henkel India shall stand terminated as of February 22 (or such earlier date as may be agreed between Jayant Singh and Henkel India)."

Henkel India, a joint venture between Tamil Nadu Petroproducts and Henkel AG of Germany, is in the throes of change where it has mandated HSBC to restructure its Indian operations, which includes the sale of some of its businesses or the company as a whole.