SKS Microfinance (SKS) on Wednesday announced that its founder and Executive Chairperson Vikram Akula stepped down as Chairperson and Member of the board of the company. He will remain a consultant to the company until the end of March, 2012, to assist with transition.
P. H. Ravikumar, who has been on the board of SKS Microfinance for five years, takes over as the new non-Executive Chairperson-Interim of the company with immediate effect. Mr. Ravi Kumar has also been the Chairperson of the Audit Committee of the Board of SKS Microfinance for four years. More than year ago in October, 2010, SKS, a leading microfiance institution, sacked its chief executive officer (CEO) Suresh Gurumani after its IPO. Till today the reason behind his sacking is not clear.
M. R. Rao, Managing Director and CEO of SKS, said “Mr. Vikram's entrepreneurial vision has been the foundation for SKS. We wish him success in his future endeavours.”
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Commenting on his move, Dr Akula said, “I am confident that the current leadership of SKS is well equipped to take SKS into the next phase of its evolution. I will, of course, remain committed to the sector, and will continue my involvement in the industry at a policy level.''Hyderabad Special Correspondent writes:
To focus more on non-A.P. markets
SKS has decided to focus more on non-Andhra Pradesh markets as the company was confident of “safely putting the fear of spread of A.P. contagion behind” following the clarity that emerged over microfinance sector through the MFI Bill.
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SKS and other MFIs plunged into serious crisis following the legislation enacted by the Andhra Pradesh Government that restricted lending and recovery. SKS Chief Financial Officer S. Dillaraj said the company had written off outstanding loans in A.P. and brought them down from Rs.1,500 crore to Rs.822 crore. In addition, there was cushioning of deferred tax of Rs.220 crore. “If that is factored in, the total outstanding comes down further,” he said.
If the company writes off the loan outstanding in the State, it would get a tax benefit on the write-off of Rs.270 crore an in the ‘unlikely' worst case scenario of zero recovery of loans in the State, “we would only be left with a net residual risk of Rs. 337 crore,” he said.