Thapars, Singhanias return to Ficci fold
Tina Edwin
NEW DELHI, January 4: The Thapars and Singhanias, who led a massive walkout of members from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in the late eighties, appear to have sorted out their differences and returned to it.The two Delhi-based business houses have enrolled one group company each as associate members of Ficci. The Thapars have returned to the fold with the MM Thapar-controlled JCT Ltd while the Singhanias have come back with the Madhupati Singhania-run Raymond Synthetics. The two business houses had led a vertical split in the chamber in 1987, when large scale bogus voting rocked Ficci elections. One block of members went to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) -- till then an association of multinational companies in India. Incidentally, both these business houses hold membership of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in addition to membership of Assocham through various companies controlled by them. The Thapars and Singhanias
are not the only ones staging a comeback to Ficci. They have been joined by other Delhi-based houses such as the Bharat Ram family's DCM group and the Nandas of Escorts. The Mafatlals are also making a token return. The Bharat Ram family has enrolled DCM Financial Services, DCM International and DCM Shriram Services as associate members, while the Nandas have joined with Goetze India and the Mafatlals with Mafatlal Finance. Industry observers feel that the bitterness caused by Ficci's internal politics has long been forgotten and the return of these business houses to membership is part of the larger trend seen in corporate India: join hands with associations which can provide a forum to take up issues confronting a company/business house.Other big names which enrolled with Ficci during the last six months are -- Asian Paints (India) Ltd, KEC International of the Goenkas, and the Dhoot family-controlled Videocon International. These three companies have joined as corporate members, which also entitles them
to a seat on the executive council of the chamber. The executive council is the highest management body of the chamber, and members of this council participate in the elections. Other Indian corporates which have joined Ficci include Bharat Forge, Bharti Telecom, Birla 3M, BSES, HCL Infosystems, Indian Rayons and Industries Ltd, Larsen and Toubro and Jet Airways. Karsanbhai Patel's Nirma and Subhash Geol's Zee Telefilms have also enrolled as members of Ficci. In addition, the chamber has enrolled a few companies from the automotive sector -- Kinetic Engineering and Mahindra and Mahindra. Among the multinationals, Coca-Cola India and Pfizer Ltd have joined as corporate members during the last one year. Other multinationals joining as associate members in recent months include ANZ Grindlays Bank, ABN Amro Bank, Aerospatiale, AT&T India, British Telecom, KLM Cargo, Group Pernod Richard, Seagram Manufacturing and Tecumseh Products. Ficci has also gained a few members from public sector enterprises
such as Allahabad Bank, Bharat Electronics, Hudco, Indian Oil Corporation and Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd. Ficci sources attribute this sudden spurt in membership to the quality of work done by it in the recent years. These sources said the companies became members easily and willingly when approached by the chamber.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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