ICICI Web core team quits
Hemangi Balse MUMBAI
03/30/2000
Business Standard
Page 1
Copyright (c) Business Standard
The core team of ICICI Web Trade, the web trading subsidiary of ICICI , has quit. This includes chief operating officer Jaideep Arora, chief content provider Mitesh Kamdar and chief marketing officer Deepak Ravindran.
These employees are reportedly setting up their own dotcom ventures.They refused to commented on their future plans.
Denial of employee stock options and a plan to merge group company ICICI Capital Services Ltd (formerly SCICI Securities) with ICICI Web Trade, which apparently operates to the latter's disadvantage, reportedly prompted the employees to quit.
"No decision has been taken" on merging ICICI Capital Services with ICICI Web Trade, said ICICI Web Trade chief executive officer Madhabi Puri Buch. The merger is likely to be on the lines of top American e-broker Charles Schwab's `online-offline model'.
Buch also denied that the mass exit would disrupt the company's projects. "Icicidirect.com, which was so far in a project stage, has reached the stage of public launch and therefore it is now well assimilated as a full-fledged ICICI group company,' she said. A new team of highly talented people had taken over the projects and the transition from project mode to full operations would be smooth, she added.
ICICI lined up another team comprising Anoop Bagchi and Abhijit Ghosh within 24 hours of the old team's departure. While Bagchi is a trader with ICICI , Ghosh was in charge of the research team of ICICI Mutual Fund and is the new content manager.
"The resignations have not surprised ICICI because in the dotcom world, there is always movement of staff," said Buch. She denied that there was any issue on ESOPs within the company.
A member of the old team told Business Standard, "We have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. We are professionals and just wanted to understand how the dotcom world feels and operates. We are fairly clued in now, and would like to seek independent futures."
The web company claims to have received more than 10,000 registrations for its Net trading product and is the first entity in the country to provide both the broking, cash and share settlement function under one roof on the Internet. ICICI Bank has been providing the cash settlement while ICICI 's depository participant service will enable on-line settlement of shares. |
