Gautam Singhania’s Raymond is ripped at the seams

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Editor's note: If a bad penny were to acquire a name at this point in time, chances are it would settle for calling itself Gautam Singhania. Because Raymond, the iconic company Singhania inherited from his father, and of which he is chairman and managing director, is now perhaps in the most precarious position it has ever been in its 96-year history. Last year, several members of its senior management team, assiduously built over five years, quit. A replacement CEO for the lifestyle business put in his papers last month, after just seven months on the job. To think this happened at a time when the company had posted its biggest ever annual loss has given shareholders cause for concern. To add to their worries, Raymond’s valuation is down to Rs 2,600 crore, lesser than the value of 125 acres of land it holds in Mumbai’s suburbs. (A group company had sold 20 acres for Rs 700 crore in 2019.) Singhania, meanwhile, has been busy adding to his collection of vintage cars, a pursuit he seems more at ease with than running a …