The timing of Ravi Kant's separation and succession will be announced later, a Philips press release said. During his tenure with Philips, Ravi Kant undertook various restructuring initiatives following a major recession in the consumer electronics industry which saw the company posting a loss in the last fiscal.

Meanwhile, Philips India chairman DN Ghosh on Tuesday said the proposed sale of the Salt Lake Factory to the Videocon group is the best deal that the Philips employees can get.

"The idea is to sell the factory lock stock and barrel. That is the only way to protect the interest of 359 employees. We have the full backing of the West Bengal government (on thisissue)," Ghosh told The Financial Express.

"We are not asset-strippers ... We want to protect the empolyees' interest. The Videocon group has already had two factories in Calcutta. The sale will be in the best interest of everybody," he said.

Referring to the trade unions offer to buy out the Saltlake factory at a consideration of Rs 10 crore, the Philips chairman said: "We had appointed HongKong & Shanghai Bank to identify a buyer for the factory. The trade unions never ever approached us... We thought that if we cannot find out a buyer by March 1999, we would consider the option (of selling the factory to employees). Meanwhile, Videocon came with the offer."

Ghosh's confidence in pushing the deal through stems from the fact that the West Bengal government has committed its support to the Philips' move of selling the consumer electronics unit to the Videocon group. The government is believed to have cleared all the concessions sought by the Videocon group for the proposed takeover.

This isperhaps the first instance in the Left-ruled West Bengal where the state government is not supporting the "labours' cause". A pragmatic state bureaucracy has thrown its weight behind Philips India as this is the best deal under present circumstances.