Son takes over from BK as chairman of ModiCorp

Our Corporate Bureau

New Delhi, Jan 3: BK Modi has stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer of ModiCorp to pave way for his wife Veena Modi and 28-year old son Dilip Modi to assume charge of the two positions.
Unveiling his succession plan at a press conference, Dr Modi said that he had resigned from the board of directors and will continue as only a shareholder.

Dr Modi also said that if ModiCorp’s bid for Videsh Sanchar Nigam was considered by the government, the company will emerge as the highest bidder. ModiCorp is yet to receive government’s response on its bid.

To ensure that the disinvestment process is not delayed by its late entry in the race, the company has offered to complete a “limited due-diligence in 15 working days in order to make a binding offer by end of January 2002”.

Dr Modi insisted that ModiCorp’s bid for VSNL was a serious one. Justifying the late bid, he said that earlier VSNL had cash and assets, which it did not need. Today Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is allowed to provide less than toll quality services, which makes the whole prospective very profitable, he added.

Companies already in the fray for a strategic partnership with VSNL are Reliance, Tata and the Sterling Infotech-led consortium.

On his stepping down from ModiCorp, Dr Modi said “I turned 53 on January 2. Over the last three years, I have worked towards strengthening the foundation of ModiCorp to enable a smooth transition, and also creating a platform for propagating Indian spiritual values on the world stage”.

Mr Dilip Modi said preferred sectors for ModiCorp will be IT, telecom and Internet. He said it made sense for ModiCorp to pick up 25 per cent stake plus management control in VSNL, rather than apply for a fresh ILD, in spite of attractive ILD entry terms.