A new twist has emerged in the ongoing fight between the co-promoters of IndiGo — Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal — at a time when there was speculation that the two are close to reaching an agreement. While the board had on July 20 decided to expand the board from the current six members to ten, Gangwal has now written a letter to the directors with copies to the Sebi and the ministry of corporate affairs that the number of directors be raised to seven instead. This additional director should be an independent woman director, which is a regulatory requirement.
However, IndiGo chairman M Damodaran has rejected this demand by Gangwal. Gangwal’s main grouse regarding the expansion to 10 is that if a position of an independent director falls vacant at any time, the size of the board will be in favour of Bhatia’s InterGlobe Enterprises (IGE) which can during the interim period force through its policies. “Subsequent to the board meet and in finalising the language on the articles, all of us realised that the proposed board structure created a large loophole that gives the IGE Group additional powers they do not
