Battle Between Vijaypat and Gautam Singhania Shakes up The Raymond Empire

A court battle between Vijaypat Singhania and son Gautam has shaken up the Raymond business empire, threatening to upset its revival

- M.G. Arun

Taking risks has never been a problem for him, be it travelling in a hot air balloon to set a world record at age 67 or doing a solo flight in a microlight aircraft from the UK to India in 1998. But today, the 78-year-old Vijaypat Singhania, chairman emeritus of one of India’s largest clothing brands, Raymond, is an unhappy man, torn by a family dispute that involves, among others, his younger son Gautam Singhania, now chairman and managing director of the Rs 5,000 crore-plus company.

Vijaypat, who stepped down as chairman of the 90-year-old company in 2015 after handing over the reins to Gautam, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking possession of a duplex flat in the 37-storey JK House situated in Mumbai’s tony Breach Candy area. JK House, a Raymond property since 1945, went for redevelopment in 2007 following tripartite agreements signed between the company, Pashmina Holdings (a Raymond arm that leased JK House from the company) and the building’s then tenants who occupied four of its five duplex flats—Vijaypat Singhania, Veenadevi (widow of Vijaypat’s brother Ajaypat Singhania), her sons Anant and Akshaypat, and Gautam. While Veenadevi and her sons have filed a joint petition in the HC over possession of two flats, Vijaypat has filed an independent petition staking claim to one of the redeveloped flats, which he feels is rightfully his.