R K Kaul to resign as Tata Chemicals president
Mumbai: RK Kaul, president, Tata Chemicals has decided to step down from the helm of the company from October 15. Kaul's decision to call it a day comes close on the heels of the exit of managing director, Manu Seth. p.

Mr Kaul, who has been with the company since April 1970 is, however, expected to continue as consultant to Tata Chemicals.

Another old Tata hand, Mr AM Vaidya, currently vice president (soda ash) at Tata Chemicals is being elevated to the position of chief operating officer, a post till recently non-existent in the company. Vaidya is set to take charge as COO from October 16, 2000. An official spokesperson for the Tata group of companies confirmed the proposed retirement/appointment .

However industry sources say that there is a certain degree of uncertainty over Mr Kaul's retirement (on reaching 60 years of age), given that a host of other senior company officials continue to occupy key positions despite having passed this age bar. These include company's vice president (purchase), president of the fertiliser division, and even the marketing manager of the chemicals unit, as per the the company's latest annual report. The Tata group spokesperson said that the latest reshuffle is in line with the retirement policy.

The latest reshuffle comes even as Tata Chemicals had earlier announced the appointment of Prasad R Menon as its new managing director. Menon, who has been the technical director and agri-business sector chief at the Nagarjuna Group, replaces Manu Seth

Menon, 54, is a chemical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He had been with ICI for 20 years as plant manager and as the works operations manager. He comes with wide-ranging experience in several product groups such as caustic/chlorine, agro-chemicals, paints and chemicals.

Menon takes charge at the helm of the Tata Chemicals at a time when the company has been facing rough weather. The company posted a 35 per cent drop in net profit in the fiscal 1999-2000 to Rs 117.3 crore from Rs 182 crore last year. Sales increased marginally to Rs 1,521 crore from Rs 1,464 crore during the year.
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