BPL chief to step down

Industry sources said Ajit G Nambiar would be heading these companies after a couple of board meetings. All the listed companies would take a final decision to this effect in their board meetings shortly. However, the Rs 3,500 crore group is not planning to hire anybody outside the family to head its major operations.

According to BPL officials, the company strategy does not allow anybody to be at the helm after attaining the age of 70. Regarding BPL, the chairman’s post is a non-executive one and TPG Nambiar would continue to sit at the board meetings in the future. Ajit has been named chairman and managing director of the flagship company.

All the BPL group scrips are not doing well on the BSE with the five firms closing at a low by November-end as against their October-end closings. For instance, BPL Sanyo Technologies on November 30 opened at Rs 5.7 and closed at Rs 6.4, while the scrip on October 29 was hovering at Rs 7.6 on BSE.

Another scrip BPL Refrigeration has remained steady at Rs 8.95 with a traded volumes of 6,500. The share had closed at Rs 11.10 on October 29 with a huge transaction of 21,000. The share price of BPL Engineering also came down to Rs 13.95 against October 29’s Rs 16.10.

The response at BPL Sanyo Utilities and Appliance’s counters shows a decline in trade with the prices touching a low of Rs 14.10 on November 30.