November 21, 2024

What Vijaypat Singhania seems to have realized now is an age-old wisdom in Marwari families. Elders are advised against doing two things in family held enterprises: let go of full control of the business and transfer all their assets to their children before death.

But, many people do this out of love for their children and also due to the fact that advancing age often brings a sense of sanyas and abhorrence of worldly things. As Vijaypat Singhania has now realized, if the transfer of assets is done in good faith and out of love and if the children (in his case son Gautam) do not keep their part of the bargain, the elderly person is reduced to living a life he is not accustomed to. Vijaypat Singhania used to lord over Raymonds, at one time India’s most admired suiting cloth company. Now he is reduced to living in a rented apartment with even his car and driver taken away.

While this might again turn out to be a family dispute and Vijaypat might stand accused of washing dirty linen in public (Gautam has already accused him of doing so), the fact remains that if one loses full control over his business and assets in old age, one is bound to face difficulties if one’s children are not on the same page.

The elder Singhania talks about agreements that his son has not honoured. He has two options: either to go for a community panchayat, a favoured way of settling disputes in old Marwari business families, or to approach the courts to settle the issue. By all account, he does not seem to have the money needed to fight Gautam in court. So he should adopt the first route and make Gautam pay all that he agreed to when getting the assets transferred in his name.