BSE chairman quits PTC India board

Former secretary in the finance ministry Sushma Nath was the first to resign in the last week of November. Former principal chief commissioner of income tax, Mumbai, Devendra Swaroop Saksena and Jayant Purushottam Gokhale, founder of Gokhale & Sathe, resigned from the board this month.

Queries sent to PTC India remained unanswered till press time.

Saksena, Gokhale and Nath have also quit the board of PTC’s controversy-hit subsidiary PTC India Financial Services (PFS). According to a regulatory by PFS, Saksena and Gokhale stepped down on 2 December, while Nath had resigned on 22 November.

Nath has cited her ineligibility to continue as independent director and accomplishment of the role assigned to her on the board, as reasons for her resignation. Her letter data 22 November said: “As you are aware, consequent upon the resignations of its independent Directors in January 2022, the Board of PFS was unable to function. The consolidated accounts of PTC for the 3rd and 4th quarters and for the financial year ending March 2022 could not be passed in the absence of the financial accounts of the PFS for the same period.”

Following the resignations in January this year, the board of PTC India Ltd recommended that four of its independent directors could be appointed as independent directors of PFS to resolve the conundrum. As the accounts for FY22 have been cleared and the forensic audit report has also been submitted and considered for necessary follow up action by PFS.

“It is, therefore, no longer incumbent upon me to continue on the Board of PFS. I have also crossed the eligible age for continuing as Independent Director as per the accepted policy of the PFS Board. Hence I am tendering my resignation with immediate effect from the Board of PTC Financial Services Limited (PFS),” showed the letter filed by PFS in its regulatory filing with the exchanges.

In response to a query from Mint, PFS said that four directors of PTC India Limited were appointed independent directors on its board on temporary basis to facilitate and constitution of PFS Board and operation of the company. It also cited Sushma Nath’s resignation letter wherein she mentions her ineligible age criteria and completion of the requirement as reasons for stepping down.

In January this year, PTC India and PFS hogged the limelight after three independent directors — Kamlesh Vikamsey, Santosh Nayar and Thomas Matthew stepped down citing corporate misgovernance in the subsidiary company PFS.

Following the allegations, CNK & Associates, LLP was appointed as the forensic auditor of PFS. In its report, submitted last month, the auditor flagged issues of evergreening of loans. It also alleged resistance and non-cooperation in providing information by PFS during the audit.

The company, however has denied these observations of the auditor and has said that the usage of the term evergreening in the forensic audit report is “incorrect and out of context”.

Responding to the claim of non-cooperation, PFS had said in its response: “The forensic audit was required to be done onsite and accordingly, PFS provided the necessary infrastructure to CNK team – laptops, printer, access to PFS system, etc. on first day of audit itself.”

On Monday, PFS reported net profit stood at ₹103.22 crore for H1FY23 against ₹98.07 crore for H1FY22. The results came after trading on its shares was halted by the exchanges due to delay in announcements of the quarterly earnings.