United Spirits CFO resigns from company

The chief financial officer of Diageo-controlled Indian drinks group United Spirits has stepped down from the company.

United Spirits’ chief financial officer P.A. Murali has resigned from his post

Pathai Ananthasubramanian Murali, who was also the group’s executive director, has resigned from the boards of all USL’s subsidiaries, Business Standard reports.

Murali’s resignation was discovered in a filing to BSE but a reason for his departure has not yet been confirmed by USL, which was taken over by UK drinks giant Diageo last year.

Reports claim that Murali played a role in securing minority shareholder approval for USL to make and distribute a number of Diageo’s spirits brands in India, following an initial rejection by stakeholders.

Murali joined UB Group, parent company of United Spirits, in 1993.

In September last year, the group report a net sales loss of £445 million, prompting Diageo to order an inquiry into loans paid out by USL, which the Indian group attributed the decline to a hefty writedown on the sale of its Whyte & Mackay Scotch whisky business.

Controversy also followed the United Bank of India’s declaration that Vijay Mallya, the billionaire chairman of USL, was a “willful defaulter” of debts.

The bank claimed that Mallya has purposefully not paid an emergency overdraft lent to him to support his grounded Kingfisher Airlines despite having the means to.

Despite this, Mallya was re-elected as chairman of United Spirits in October last year.