Samsung India VP's resignation rejected

NEW DELHI: Samsung India VP and head of IT business, Vivek Prakash has confirmed that he had indeed tendered his resignation, but added that the company has rejected the same. He also informed that he would continue to work with Samsung till February 1 and decide on further course of action based on the decisions taken by the company top brass in Korea by month end. "I'll issue a final official statement on the day," he said.

Prakash also informed that the decision to shift company MD, KS Kim to Korea too was pending and would be decided by the month-end. When asked about the reason for his resignation and the said move to replace Kim, Prakash refused to give any comments. He, however, indicated that, "the internal politics and vested interests of certain quarters in the company" had led to this situation. Kim is reportedly in Korea to sort out the issue and is expected back in Delhi on January 30.

While the IT industry, including the channel fraternity has been abuzz with rumors of top-level changes, the company had denied the news dubbing it speculative after certain quarter of the media reported it on January 20. Interestingly, most of the company officials that CyberMedia News tried to contact either denied the news or refused to respond or take calls. While the company deputy GM Sonal Anand confirmed the news that Prakash was on leave, he refused to comment further on the topic. The company' corporate communication head Senjam Raj Sekhar too refused to take calls or respond to messages.

Meanwhile, Anand has denied news about his resignation categorically saying that he continues to remain with Samsung India, heading the volume business-color monitors, hard disk drives and OMS-of the IT division.

The news of changes in Samsung's IT division follows the resignation by Samsung telecom head Kunal Ahooja and a major reshuffle in the company's consumer durables division, including resignation by its refrigerators head Amitabh Tiwari. Unconfirmed reports also suggest that while Harry Ahn is in charge of the company's operation Samsung would get its new MD and CEO from Samsung Indonesia by February.

Reports suggest 'non-adherence of certain processes' as the reason behind this sudden overhaul. Media reports also attribute the sudden churn to the chaebol's falling short of sales targets and the gap in market share between leader LG and #2 Samsung widening. According to reports, the firm fell short of its target by about Rs 150 crore, closing the year 2004 with turnover of less than Rs 5,000 crore. In 2004, Samsung grew 28 percent over the previous year, against the target of 30 percent.