Jindal Poly Group company minority shareholders seek forensic audit

ET has seen a copy of the notice.

The shareholder group led by Ankit Jain owns over 10% of Universus Photo Imagings, a company that was carved out by demerging some of the businesses of Jindal Poly Films.

Universus Photo Imagings owns a significant minority stake of around 42.59% in JPF Netherlands, a company that purchased Exxon Mobil’s global packaging films business in 2013.

Minority shareholders have claimed that the company’s board and management have not acted in public shareholders’ interest because they did not subscribe to two rights issues of JPF Netherlands in July 2020 and November 2020 even though the company had cash on its books. They claim that promoter-owned companies subscribed to those rights issues and Universus Photo Imagings’ shareholding in JPF Netherlands and its voting rights have come down significantly as a result.

The minority shareholders’ group declined to comment. Universus Photo Imagings did not respond to ET’s queries until press time.

The shareholders’ group has sought removal of existing directors Shailendra Sinha, Vinod Kumar Gupta, Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal, Rathi Binod Pal and Sonal Agarwal on the grounds that they did not perform their fiduciary duties.

They also want the induction of two new directors on the company’s board – Kanti Mohan Rustagi and Anil Rustgi – as independent directors.

Jindal Poly Films and Universus Photo Imagings are part of the BC Jindal Group that also has interests in thermal power generation and steel manufacturing.