ANIL AMBANI RESIGNS AS RCOM DIRECTOR
Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani, along with four directors, has resigned from the company, which is going through the insolvency process, according to a regulatory filing. The chief financial officer, Manikantan V, has also resigned. Apart from Ambani, Chhaya Virani and Manjari Kacker tendered their resignation as director on November 15, while Ryna Karani and Suresh Rangachar resigned on November 14 and November 13, respectively. The development comes a day after Rcom posted a consolidated loss of ~30,142 crore for the September quarter.
Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani, along with four other directors, has resigned from the company, which is going through insolvency process, according to a regulatory filing. Chief financial officer of the debt-ridden company, Manikantan V, has also resigned, the filing said.
“Shri Anil D Ambani, Smt. Chhaya Virani, Smt. Manjari Kacker have tendered their resignation as Director of Company on November 15th, 2019,” the filing stated.
Ryna Karani and Suresh Rangachar tendered their resignations on November 14 and November 13, respectively. The development comes a day after the telecom operator posted a consolidated loss of ~30,142 crore for the July-september quarter, on account of provisioning for liabilities after the Supreme Court’s ruling on statutory dues.
This was the second-highest loss posted by any Indian corporate till date. Ambani was once i n the world’s top 10 rich persons list, but now the company is struggling to even sell assets for the recovery of dues.
The company, which is going through insolvency process, had made a profit of ~1,141 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.
During the quarter, the company had set aside ~28,314 crore on account of provisioning following the Supreme Court order on calculation of annual adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of telecom companies.
The apex court had last month upheld the government’s position on including revenue from nontelecommunication businesses in calculating the annual AGR, a share of which has to be paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer.
Rcom’s total liabilities include ~23,327 crore in licence fees and ~4,987 crore in spectrum usage charges.
“The resignation of Shri Manikantan V and appointment of Shri D. Vishwanath as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer has been put up to the Committee of Creditors (COC) for their approval. Upon approval by the Committee of Creditors, further disclosures will be made to stock exchanges,” the regulatory filing said.
Ambani got the charge of Rcom after property division between him and his elder brother Mukesh Ambani in 2005. The company is undergoing insolvency proceedings following an application filed by Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson.
The National Company Law Tribunal has handed over control of the company to an insolvency resolution professional.
People in the know estimate Rcom’s total secured debt at around ~33,000 crore. Lenders had submitted a claim of close to ~49,000 crore, in August.
Rcom has put all its assets for sale which include spectrum holding of 122 MHZ that the company before insolvency proceedings estimated to be around ~14,000 crore, towers business for ~7,000 crore, optical fibre network ~3,000 crore and data centres worth ~4,000 crore.
The COC looking after asset sale of Rcom will open bids received for the assets on November 24.