Birla Corporation completes adjourned AGM

KOLKATA - Birla Corporation, the M.P. Birla Group flagship company controlled by the Lodhas, Tuesday finished its re-scheduled 90th annual general meeting (AGM).

The AGM was adjourned June 23 following an order of the Alipore Court. A company shareholder, owning 200 shares, had moved the court on the issue of postal ballots and obtained an ex parte order from District Judge Kalpana Dey.

Later, the Calcutta high Court vacated the stay and permitted the company to hold the AGM.

Shareholders Tuesday approved payment of a final dividend of Rs.3.50 per share, in addition to an interim dividend of Rs.2.50 already paid, a company statement said here. The total dividend payout will be Rs.53.95 crore against the previous year’s Rs.40.54 crore.

They also approved the appointment of Deepak Nayyar and M.K. Sharma as independent directors of the company. The reappointment of Harsh V. Lodha and D.N. Ghosh was also approved at the AGM.

Lodha clarified that Birla Corp did not need approval of the Company Law Board for these resolutions.

“The court has just directed that the ballot papers used in the polling to pass the resolutions be sealed and handed over to the CLB,” Lodha said on the sidelines of the AGM earlier in the day.

The Rs.5,000 crore M.P. Birla Group - controlled by the Lodhas - is involved in a legal battle with the Birla family.

The Lodhas have staked claim to ownership of the M.P. Birla estate based on Priyamvada Birla’s purported will bequeathing the entire wealth to R.S. Lodha, who has since died.