Birlas to challenge Lodha’s reinstatement as director in MP Birla Group

Mumbai, May 6: The Birla family, which has been in a 16-year-old legal battle with the Lodhas to wrest control of the Rs 5,000-crore Birla Estate, has decided to challenge the reinstatement of Harsh Vardhan Lodha as a director in MP Birla Group companies in the Supreme Court.

The decision of the Birlas comes in spite of a favourable verdict from a two-judge division bench of the Calcutta High Court which on Monday had asked the probate court to hear the appellant MP Birla Group companies

Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest car maker, its rival Hyundai Motor, the country's second largest car maker, and premium motorcycle maker Royal Enfield have opened their dealerships for business across India.

Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday said it has reopened more than 600 dealerships out of the total 3,100 showrooms across India and sold more than 55 cars to the customers in a single day on Tuesday.

"We can also open our 2,600 dealerships spread across various states with the help of the local administration as only about 500 showrooms which fall under containment zones will remain shut under Covid-19 lockdown," Shashank Srivastava, executive director, marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki India told Financial Chronicle.

It showrooms were opened in National Capital Region (30), NorthEast Region (100) and in MP, Rajasthan, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat and other states.

Hyundai Motor said around 250 company dealerships afresh, which was one their key petitions.

A division bench of judges Sambuddha Chakrborty and Arindam Mukherjee had ordered the probate court to hear the appellant companies represented by Arvind Kumar Newar afresh even though they refused to go into the merits of the case as such and the jurisdiction issues, saying it is for the probate court to decide.

"We direct the probate court to consider and decide all the aspects of the matter after giving opportunity to these appellant companies," the division of with workshops have resumed operations across various states. It has a total of 500 dealerships across the country.

The company said over 250 workshops have also commenced work and vehicle deliveries have also begun.

"We are taking all kind of precautions at dealerships and hope that business will soon start coming to normal," Tarun Garg, director, sales and marketing, at Hyundai Motor India, said.

While the majority of Royal Enfield dealer network will continue to remain closed, around 120 dealerships have begun partial operations.

"We expect around 300 dealerships, in all, to be operational by mid May,” the company said.

Maruti Suzuki said it has put in place a comprehensive standard operating procedure (SoP) across its sales outlets and reinforced digital infrastructure for vehicle purchase amid the Covid-19 pandemic. "The business cycles has started and cash is coming in," Srivastava said.

He said the pandemic had accelerated digitalisation of sales, with fewer touch points for servicves. bench said in a order on Monday.

When contacted, a Birla family spokesman refused to comment saying the Birlas are studying the verdict in details, but two 38page

It may be a blessing in disguise for the general insurance firms, as their health insurance business is expected to gain significantly in the current fiscal while the motor business will take a hit from the spread of Covid 19.

While health insurance products will gain from increased awareness among the people about health cover benefits, the motor insurance business, the largest chunk in the general insurance business, will lose for two reasons. One, motor insurance policies are not renewed during the lockdown period. Two, regulator Irdai has not revised third party motor insurance premium, which usually happens on April 1 every year.

Revealing this, director of the National Insurance Academy (NIA) and former New India Assurance CMD, G. Srinivasan said, "The health insurance business may go up by 2025 per cent in the current fiscal, whereas motor insurance business is likely to remain flat during the year."

In line with the Srinivasan's comment, an NIA report has also pointed out that the general insurance industry is likely to see an increase in sources in the know of the family told PTI that "they will move the Supreme Court against reinstatement of Harsh V. Lodha as a director on the board of these companies with demand for health insurance, whereas motor insurance will take a hit due to the nearly two months of lockdown.

The non-life insurance business turnover in India was more than Rs 1,89,000 crore in 2019-20.

As per industry sources, automobile sales are expected to continue to fall in this fiscal. "Motor premium will, therefore, be adversely impacted and there will also be pressure from customers for premium refunds as vehicles have been laid up for a long time due to the lockdown. The health business will see an increase in demand as the high cost of treatment of Covid-19 in private hospitals and the general fear of diseases will give a big fillip to the demand for health insurance," the NIA report said.

Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & remuneration."

Commenting on the division bench order, the spokesman, however, said the order has put an end to the hide and seek that the Lodhas have been playing all these 16 years.

"This is a landmark judgement as it puts the companies also before the probate court for the first time in this one-and-a-halfdecade long litigation and accordingly draws the curtains on the hide and seek game being played by the Lodhas and the companies of the MP Birla Group at different fora," the Birla family spokesman told PTI

CEO, ICICI Lombard, said, "The only regulated component in the industry, motor's third party insurance normally sees a premium hike by 7-8 per cent every year, which has been deferred by the Irdai due to Covid this year. Hence the industry is likely to take a hit by this development, too."

"Covid has made very small dent on the balance sheet of health insurance companies with over Rs

50,000 crore premium, creating a very conducive environment for huge growth of health insurance in the market. Due to financial crunch, this may not reflect immediately but it can be seen from Q2

FY21," he added.

So far, the general insurers have taken a hit of over Rs 30 crore out of 1,700 cases received by them for Covid related death claims. from Kolkata Wednesday.

However, in a setback for the Birlas, the HC allowed group companies Vindhya Telelinks and Birla Cable to reappoint Lodha as a director if the shareholders approve it, and also pay dividends to the shareholders of Birla Corporation and Vindhya Telelinks.

In another victory for the Lodhas, the court also set aside the August 9, 2019 ruling of a single HC judge who prevented these companies from publishing the voting results of the last AGMs. on

New York, May 6: Gilead Sciences Inc said on Tuesday it was in discussions with chemical and drug manufacturers to produce its experimental Covid-19 drug remdesivir for Europe, Asia and the developing world through at least 2022.

The drugmaker did not disclose details about the companies.

With several countries across the globe reeling from the virus outbreak, interest in remdesivir has been high as there are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Gilead last week received the US Food and Drug Administrat-ion’s emergency use authorisation for using remdesivir as a treatment against Covid-19, after the drugmaker provided data showing the drug had helped Covid-19 patients.

Gilead also said on Tuesday it was negotiating long-term licences with several generic drugmakers in India and Pakistan to produce remdesivir for developing countries and that it would provide technology to aid the production.

One of Bangladesh’s largest drugmakers, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, will start remdesivir production this month.

Remdesivir was previously available only for patients enrolled in clinical trials or those cleared to get the drug under expanded use and compassionate use pro