The McDonald’s Delhi story !

So just a few days back I was with my cousins , as we were celebrating Rakhi and the youngest of the lot my two brothers of 6 and 7 repeatedly kept on saying that they wanted to go to McDonalds , and we had to repeatedly answer them that they were closed and they would have to try a different place.

This stance got everyone to ask that why exactly is McDonalds closed in India . So here is the answer .

In India McDonald’s is a 50:50 joint venture between McDonald’s India Pvt Ltd (MIPL) and Westlife Development in south and west India (261 McDonalds and 121 McCafes ) and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd in north and east India.  But there are issues revolving around CPRL which have eventually led to this closure which date back to 2013 .

In 2013, McDonald’s had voted against the re-election of Mr.Bakshi as managing director of Connaught Plaza ( due to their own internal tussle as per which the US brand believes that Bakshi was cheating them), following which Bakshi challenged his removal in the Company Law Board (now the National Company Law Tribunal ), accusing McDonald’s of mismanagement and oppression.

The same year, McDonald’s revoked its joint venture with Connaught Plaza and invoked arbitration against Bakshi. It has been pursuing arbitration against Bakshi in the London Court of International Arbitration. This was challenged before the Delhi high court.
On 23 December 2016, Justice V.K. Shali prohibited any change in the shareholding of the Indian arm of the company. This order was lifted by the two-judge bench in July.

Separately, under an order passed by the Company Law Board on 16 September 2013, McDonald’s was directed to maintain status quo over the shareholding pattern and right of call option, which is still in operation.

In June this year , McDonald’s shut 41 of its 55 restaurants in Delhi following its failure to renew their health and eating licenses. which resultantly happened due to a unstable management .The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in second week of July reinstated Vikram Bakshi as managing director of CPRL. Leaving a unclear picture for the spectators on whos right and whos wrong.

So now the BIG question remains how McDonalds will revive itself in India , with competition everywhere , with Indian brands also joining the fight( Haldiram and Nirulas ) . Because at the end of the day its your presence that matters because if your shutters are down , customers would eventually go and try the next best thing , which might topple your brand eventually  .

So do these tussles actually help anyone ? Does a management fiasco really satisfy the end goal for which a company is made ?

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