Hindustan Motors Appoints CFO Amidst Lay Offs

Kolkata based Hindustan Motors Ltd has appointed Bhikam Chand Mishra as its chief financial officer. The company made the announcement in a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The auto maker of the iconic ambassador car has appointed Mishra as the CFO of the company for the next two years.

According to Mishra’s Linkedin profile, has earlier served the Hindustan Motors as general manager (corporate finance). It should be noted that the auto maker has declared ‘Suspension of Work’ at its Uttarpara plant for over 2000 employees since May 2014. The company has attributed the massive lay off to “low productivity, growing indiscipline, shortage of funds and lack of demand of products’.

“Based on legal opinion obtained, the employees and the workmen, falling under the purview of ‘Suspension of Work’ are not entitled to any salary or wages during that period and accordingly, the Company has not provided for such salary and wages,” the auto maker told BSE.

It further added that since there have been several employee agitations, the company does not have access to documents pertaining to operational and financial matters. “The government of West Bengal has alleged that the company had realized an excess sum of Rs 19,447 lakhs from the sale of 314 acres of land at Hindmotor, West Bengal, in earlier years and it should refund the said amount with interest thereon. The company has been legally advised that there is no liability to make any payments against the alleged demand.

The company has also made an exit from its Corporate Debt Restructure (CDR) programe by allotting securities and making a payment of balance of Rs 640 lakh to the lenders.

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