M&M, Pidilite, Dr Reddy’s deny Congress charge, say no preferential treatment received from Sebi

MUMBAI: Dismissing allegations of irregularities, three listed companies – Mahindra & Mahindra, Pidilite Industries and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories – said they had availed supply chain and leadership coaching services from

Dhaval Book

husband of Sebi chief

Madhabi

Puri Buch and director of Agora Advisory, which is in the midst of a controversy involving conflict of interest charges.

M&M said it hired Dhaval in 2019 after he retired from Unilever as its chief procurement officer. The company said he was currently on the board of its subsidiary Bristlecon, adding that his compensation was “specifically and only for his expertise on supply chain”. M&M didn’t define the quantum of compensation paid to Dhaval. It also didn’t comment on the separate payment made to Agora.
Congress claimed Sebi, while Madhabi was its whole-time member, approved and settled five cases relating to the Mahindra group. Refuting this allegation, M&M said, “We have not, at any point, requested Sebi for any preferential treatment…We consider these allegations false and misleading in nature.”
The auto major further said none of the five Sebi orders or approvals referenced in the allegations were relevant. “Three out of the five approvals or orders of Sebi do not pertain to the company or any of its subsidiaries. One was a fast-track rights issue, which did not require any approval from Sebi and the other was an order issued in March 2018 (that exempted family trusts of Anand Mahindra from certain clauses of takeover rules), well before Dhaval started working with us,” it said.

TOI looked at the three orders – they are related to the Kotak Mahindra group.
In a stock exchange filing, Pidilite Industries said it had engaged Dhaval for his supply chain and procurement expertise in FY20. It didn’t reveal the consultancy fees paid to him. “We further state that there have never been any enquiries or cases from Sebi vis-a-vis the company,” it added.
Separately, Dr Reddy’s said it had engaged Dhaval’s services for leadership coaching from Oct 2020 to April 2021 for a total remuneration of Rs 6.58 lakh. “The remuneration paid to Dhaval was in line with that of other coaches… Any suggestion that the company was treated differently by Sebi as a result of this would be baseless and malafide,” it said.
ICICI and

Sembcorp

didn’t comment on Congress’s allegations that they availed services from Agora, while Visu Leasing & Finance couldn’t be reached for comments. A source said Madhabi had served as an independent director on the board of Sembcorp’s India energy companies much before she joined Sebi as its whole-time member. Sembcorp is majorly owned by Temasek of Singapore.