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Gelli steps down, Hugar appointed CMD of Global Trust Bank

Ramesh Gelli, the chairman and managing director of India's Global Trust Bank Ltd, stepped down on Thursday, a statement from the bank said.

The statement, however, did not give any reasons for Gelli's exit.

Global Trust's board of directors, who met in Bombay, accepted Gelli's resignation and appointed R S Hugar, a director, as his replacement.

"This is my second innings and I want to take Global Trust to great heights," Hugar said. He was earlier chairman and managing director of state-run Corporation bank.

Global Trust has been under a cloud over allegations of share price manipulation ahead of a merger announcement with UTI Bank to create India's largest private sector bank.

Domestic media have alleged that Gelli colluded with arrested broker "Bombay Bull" Ketan Parekh to rig prices of the bank's shares before the merger announcement. Gelli has denied the price manipulation allegations.

The merger was called off last week under pressure from the central Reserve Bank of India.

Parekh was arrested on March 30 following a complaint by state-run Bank of India after pay orders issued to BOI on his behalf bounced.

Global Trust shares, which closed down 1.2 per cent at Rs 24.50 on Thursday, have crashed nearly 65 per cent since reports of the price manipulation first appeared in early March.

In comparison, the Bombay index has fallen by nearly 20 per cent during the same period.

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