Gurumani likely to step down from SKS board

Hyderabad: Suresh Gurumani, who was dismissed as MD & CEO of SKS Microfinance last week, may soon quit the company's board as well. According to sources, the power struggle between founder Vikram Akula and Gurumani may come in the way of decisions and anticipating this, Gurumani might want to leave the board.



On Friday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had directed SKS to retain Gurumani on its board till further orders. The ruling came on a petition by some shareholders, who said the decision to sack Gurumani was not in the interest of the shareholders.



But sources told FE that Gurumani is not very keen to continue on the board, after losing his CEO post. It is said that Gurumani does not want to continue as board member, with MR Rao already appointed as the new MD & CEO.



After his dismissal, Gurumani was removed from the board of the Microfinance Institutions Network a self-regulatory organisation of microfinance institutions.



Dilli Raj, chief financial officer, SKS has come in as a representative from SKS Microfinance.



But it is clear that many shareholders had a lot of faith in Gurumani. They had told the high court that they had invested in the company because of Gurumani\'s track record.He was unanimously chosen and appointed by the shareholders of the company and only they have the right to sack him and not the management, the counsel for the petitioners argued.



SKS spokesperson Atul Takle said the court order did not say that Suresh Gurumani should be brought back as CEO. The company had earlier said that the removal of Suresh Gurumani was not on account of any 'financial impropriety' but because the board felt that he was not the right person to take SKS to the next level.



Sources said the power struggle between Akula and Gurumani was quite evident from the recent developments.



"The power struggle will come in the way during board decisions. Perhaps this is paving way for Gurumani to quit the board also," sources said on condition of anonymity.



At SKS, Gurmani had a five-year contract starting April 1, 2009 which expires on March 31, 2014. A qualified chartered accountant, Gurmani joined SKS as CEO in December 2008. Prior to SKS, he was with Barclays as head of retail banking.



Founded in 1998, SKS Microfinance recently became the first Indian microfinance company to go public.


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