Rajkumar Dhoot exits Videocon's telecom arm: Sources

Industrialist Rajkumar Dhoot has resigned as Chairman and Managing Director of Videocon Telecom, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

The resignation is believed to have been submitted a few weeks ago, the people said, asking not to be identified. The reason for the resignation is not immediately known.

When contacted, Videocon Telecom CEO Arvind Bali refused to confirm or deny the news.

Videocon Telecom is a subsidiary of the $5 billion Videocon Group. Rajkumar Dhoot is the younger brother of Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman of Videocon Group. In June last year, Rajkumar Dhoot was re-appointed as Managing Director of the telecom arm for a five-year period till 2018 with substantial powers to steer ahead the struggling company.

The 58-year-old had been part of the telecom business from its inception in 2008. The Group had invested Rs 10,000 crore in the telecom business but suffered a jolt when the Supreme Court ordered the cancellation of the company's licences - along with those of many other mobile-phone operators -- in February 2012.

The Group again rolled out the telecom business in January last year and Rajkumar Dhoot's role was expanded to help in the re-launching efforts. The larger managerial role entrusted to him was widely seen as a precursor to some sort of succession planning in the group. Today, the three Dhoot siblings-Pradipkumar Dhoot being the third-have their children working in the group. Rajkumar Dhoot's exit comes at a time when the telecom sector is about to see further competition once billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm enters the fray.

Videocon, a consumer electronics and home appliances giant, also has interests in oil and gas, Direct-to-Home (DTH) television, mobile handsets and power. The group has invested the most in the telecom business. The group is hanging on to telecom even though it is not a big force because of the synergy it can derive from two other growing businesses-mobile handset and DTH. Some say Videocon could also exit the telecom business if the regulations allow and if it gets the right price.