CALCUTTA, February 5: The management of Shaw Wallace has decided to shift its corporate office to Mumbai with immediate effect. Ravi Jain, managing director, has issued orders transferring all executive directors of the company to Mumbai, says an official company release.The move is intended to improve "monitoring and control systems within the company and facilitating better coordination with financial, commercial and legal associates," the release adds.
Executive director P L Narasimhan, who was detached from operations for medical reasons for over an year, will rejoin at Mumbai in the next couple of months. The managing director has assigned him "strategic planning, mobilisation of funds, environmental issues, restructuring, acquisition and mergers, investment subsidiaries, banking relationships and bottomline improvement planning".
Executive directors P J Rao and T S Venkatesan have also been transferred to Mumbai.
Wallace House in Calcutta will now serve as a regional office, leaving substantialspace for utilisation for generating "better commercial returns".The company had, over the past few months shifted its liquor, human resource development and corporate finance divisions to Mumbai. The corporate office was located in Calcutta as the company's mainline businesses of coal, shipping and tea had an "eastern" focus.
"With the recent shift in focus to the core business namely liquor and beer, having the corporate office at Calcutta made little business or commercial sense," the release explains.
It has, however, been clarified that the interests of employees will be safeguarded by "redeploying personnel wherever possible". The company is expanding its Bengal Distilleries unit and relocating the same from Bhadrakali to Dankuni.
The expanded unit will absorb some of the surplus staff. It has approached the state government for grant of a licence to put a brewery at Dankuni. At present, the company's liquor and beer operations are spread over several states.
In mid-1997, the company effected areorganisation of the liquor activity with a view to "optimise manpower utilisation" and "eliminate duplication of work and reduce manpower costs."
In January 1998, the company has achieved the highest ever production and sales of liquor and beer in its 111 year history. Liquor and beer sales reached one million cases and 1.1 million cases respectively in January 1998.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
