Paliwal resigns from ABB, to join Harman Intl as CEO
Mumbai: Dinesh Paliwal, president, global markets and technology and member of the group executive committee, has resigned from the ABB Group and will leave at the end of June.

Paliwal will now assume responsibility as chief executive officer (CEO) of US-based audio equipment maker Harman International Industries.

ABB said Paliwal was appointed chairman of ABB in 2004, and guided and supported the Indian operations through a period of significant growth.

ABB officials said the company said its executive committee and colleagues regret his departure.

Affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and GS Capital Partners have acquired Harman for about $8 billion.

Dr Sidney Harman, the 88-year-old founder and executive chairman of Harman International, had served as interim chief executive since the retirement of Bernard Girod in December.

Harman is the parent company behind an array of brands including Harman Kardon, JBL, Mark Levinson and Infinity. The business is organised into automotive OEM, consumer and professional groups.
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FIs remove two nominee directors from L&T board
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation and General Insurance Corporation have taken off their nominee directors, Kranti Sinha and BP Deshmukh, from the board of construction major Larsen & Toubro. This is on the grounds that the two failed to comply with a directive given on June 2006 to not exercise the employee stock options (Esops) granted by the company.

DK Mehrotra, managing director of LIC, would replace Sinha as LIC's nominee, financial institutions sources said. The identity of the new GIC representative on L&T's board is not yet known.
Deshmukh, who has been on L&T's board since 2002, said he had written to GIC to relieve him of his duties six months ago. Sinha, on the other hand, had joined the L&T board in 2003 following his retirement from LIC Housing Finance as its chief executive officer.

Both were inducted as "independent" directors, representing the equity exposure of LIC and GIC in L&T.

Both GIC and LIC refused to comment, saying the matter is sub-judice.

The two financial institutions have even moved the Bombay High Court to bar its nominee directors from dealing with these shares. The Bombay High Court has restrained GIC nominee-director Deshmukh from transacting in L&T stock option shares till June 13.

The matter will be heard again on June 10.
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