CHENNAI: N Srinivasan (80) resigned as the vice-chairman & MD of India Cements on Wednesday, a day after the company became a subsidiary of UltraTech following the Aditya Birla Group company’s acquisition. He also ceases to be the CEO. His daughter Rupa Gurunath and wife Chitra Srinivasan also tendered their resignations as wholetime director and non-independent director, respectively.
This has brought the curtains down for the 50-year-long association of Srinivasan with India Cements, which was co-founded by his father T S Narayanaswami, a year before independence in 1946. Another co-founder was S N N Sankaralinga Iyer.
In their identical resignation letters, Srinivasan and his family memers thanked the employees and conveyed greetings for the new management. Joining India Cements soon after the demise of his father in 1968, Srinivasan was ousted from the board in 1979 at the peak of his fight with co-promoters. However, he made a comeback and took over as its managing director in Sept 1989. The company grew from two plants with a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in 1989 to 10 cement plants spread across Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan with a capacity of 15.5 MTPA. It also saw a five-fold jump in turnover from Rs 1,033 crore in 2002-03 to a turnover of Rs 5,112 crore in FY24 under his leadership.
However, one of the largest cement manufacturers in south India, the company has been facing financial issues in recent quarters. In July this year, India’s largest building materials maker, Birla struck a deal with Srinivasan and his family to acquire their cement business for Rs 3,954 crore.
