Indian School of Business (ISB) chairman Rajat Gupta, who faces charges of insider trading in the United States, has decided to step down from his post.
Mr. Gupta asked the ISB executive board to relieve him of the responsibilities as its chairman and managing director emeritus until the matter pending with the Securities and Exchange Commission was resolved.
The announcement puts an end to speculation on his continuance for about three weeks since the matter came to light.
Mr. Gupta's request and appointment of a new chairman will be taken up by the ISB board at its meeting on April 2. An ISB spokesperson, in brief statement, confirmed the resignation, saying the board was on the lookout for a new chairman. Also, Mr. Gupta is not likely to attend the board meeting.
It is understood that the former McKinsey chief decided to take “leave of absence” from the management of $1.4 billion private equity fund New Silk Route, which he co-founded five years ago.
Earlier, he quit from three corporate boards, including American Airlines. Mr. Gupta, a former board member of Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble, denied the charges level against him by the American regulator.
In a statement issued a few weeks ago, the ISB community expressed confidence that Mr. Gupta would be vindicated and would continue to be the chairman. The SEC allegations against Mr. Gupta, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and Harvard Business School, came on top of the resignation of Anil Kumar from the ISB board last year following allegations of involvement in insider trading. Mr. Anil Kumar subsequently pleaded guilty.
