I saw an Instagram reel with the 84-year-old VPS (Vijaypat Singhania) telling his story about how his son Gautam has made him homeless (Yes, he lives in a rented apartment).
I was immediately curious why the successful, wealthy businessman faced such a fate from his youngest child. I picked up the kindle book for Rs 190 and used the Alexa app to listen to the book.
The book was an easy listen, but I was disappointed that he has just at the end of the book talked about how he gifted away Rs 2000 crore worth of his 37% stake in Raymonds to his son.
He does explain unconvincingly to me what seems like primarily two reasons.
- He had become old and had doubts about his ability to run a company. So he thought his youngest son was the best fit at that time.
- He heard that Gautam was in pain when he had decided to make trust, so to relieve his son of the pain, he did the loving act of bequeathing all his shares.
I am not convinced. This man has made what Raymonds what it is and is no babe in the woods. There is an element to the father-son relationship that he had not had the courage to discuss. I know it, but me sitting here and speculating what happened would look cheap.
So, please, parents, don’t do such a stupid thing. Make a will and transfer your wealth after you are no more.