Singh, who leaves along with board nominees Sunil Godhwani and Balvinder Dhillon, both of whom were selected by the Singh family, said it was a difficult decision to leave Ranbaxy but that now is the right time for him to step down.
The departure leaves Atul Sobti, Singh's replacement as CEO, as the only executive board member not to have been nominated by Ranbaxy’s Japanese parent.
Tsutomu Une, who succeeds Singh as chairman having been a non-executive director at Ranbaxy since 2008, is a senior executive officer and board member at Daiichi.
Ranbaxy, which expects a net loss of RPS 8bn for the year, has been beset by a series of problems in recent years, including several good manufacturing practice (GMP) deviations at facilities in India that have led to a US import ban.
Additionally, in February the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that Ranbaxy had made “untrue statements” in ANDA and NDA filings and halted its review of drugs made by the firm.
Despite these difficulties, Dr Une denied that Singh’s early departure was related to Ranbaxy’s performance and said the move is in keeping with terms laid out in Daiichi’s purchase agreement.
Une told India’s Business Standard that the reshuffle will "[accelerate] hybrid growth of the company and its integration with Daiichi Sankyo" but declined to comment when asked if Singh had hindered the process.
Sobti said that Singh's departure: "was more a decision based on the future and was not linked to Ranbaxy's operational performance.”
Sobti’s Japanese experience
Abhishek Singhal, analyst at Macquarie Research, told Bloomberg that: “Sobti is the right man for the job. He has the necessary experience of working with Japanese companies in his previous role at Hero Honda Motors.”
Sobti’s previous work with Honda was also raised as a being a key asset by Daiichi CEO Takashi Shoda who said “That experience means a lot to Daiichi Sankyo.”