Why Cipla's 'successor' decided to quit

A football fan, Kamil Hamied is known to be a calm and quiet person who wants to do something for society, like his uncle Yusuf. 

Kamil Hamied, the 33-year-old scion of Cipla, has quit the pharmaceutical major at a time when the family patriarch, Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied, was finalising the plans to anoint him his successor and was grooming him to take over the reins of the company. 

The reason for this sudden and unexpected move is not known, though insiders say Kamil Hamied took the step because he is not interested in the day-to-day functioning of the company and wants to pursue other interests.

Besides, say those in the know, Kamil Hamied's role as the chief strategy officer was not clear when the everyday decisions were being taken by Subhanu Saxena, the company's managing director who was hired from Novartis in 2012.

"With Subhanu around to take all the executive decisions, there was nothing much for Kamil to do," says a Cipla official. 

Kamil Hamied joined Cipla eight years ago. Low profile and quiet, he seldom spoke to the media - or even his employees - about his plans for the company during these years.

A private person, he also skipped the annual shareholders' meetings in Mumbai, which is a good place to meet investors and shareholders to get to know their views about the company, says a Cipla shareholder.

A football fan, Kamil Hamied is known to be a calm and quiet person who wants to do something for society, like his uncle Yusuf. 

During his years at Cipla, Kamil Hamied worked on several assignments in the marketing department, promoting the pharmaceutical products.

He had joined the company after completing the International Baccalaureate course from United World College, Singapore. He also holds a degree of Bachelor of Arts from New York University. 

Some years ago, he shifted base to London and was working for Cipla's UK subsidiary. London is where he is based now. 

With him opting out, his elder sister, 37-year-old Samina Vaziralli, will play an extended role, Cipla said in a statement. 

Yusuf Hamied, 78, is childless. That's the reason he was looking to his brother, Mustafa K Hamied's son, Kamil Hamied, as his successor.

The Hamied family owns about 37 per cent of the shares, worth around Rs 18,300 crore (Rs 183 billion).

According to the earlier plan drawn up by the family, Kamil Hamied would be deemed as the representative of the existing main promoter, Yusuf Hamied, in the scenario that neither of the two brothers is able to attend a meeting of the shareholders for some reason. 

The family had also proposed to vote together, as a single unit, under the direction of patriarch Yusuf Hamied in his lifetime, and under his brother, Mustafa, thereafter.

After the demise of both the brothers, or in the event of both of them being incapacitated, the family would continue to act as a single unit under the "overall direction and supervision" of a family member owning the highest number of shares.

That person could have been Kamil Hamied, but for this latest twist in the tale. Kamil Hamied could not be reached for this article. 

Yusuf Hamied took over the reins of the company after the death of his father, Khwaja Abdul Hamied, in 1972. For over 40 years, he has remained at its helm. Today, Cipla is counted among India's best family-run companies. 

Hamied Senior is also considered an activist, being extremely vocal across international and domestic forum about making drugs cheap and accessible to the poor.

"Yusuf Hamied has a towering personality. He took on multinational companies and won," says an insider. "It would not be easy for anyone to fill his shoes." 

Kamil Hamied's exit might not be permanent. If he wants, he could return to Cipla anytime as a representative of the family.

But he would have to work long and hard to take the company's legacy forward.

For now, however, the man who was seldom seen or heard at Cipla's headquarters in Mumbai has chosen to explore other avenues.