In a fresh turn of events in the Kalyani family dispute, Gaurishankar Kalyani has submitted documents in a Pune court to back his claim that a Kalyani Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) exists – contrary to elder brother Baba Kalyani’s claims – a move that may imply that all members of the Kalyani family are entitled to a share of the billionaire family’s assets.
The over 6,000-page filing, which the Pune court took on record about two weeks ago, cites evidence such as tax returns and investments in group companies to prove the existence of the HUF.
The documents claim that Bharat Forge chief Baba Kalyani’s contention that there is no Kalyani HUF and that he single-handedly built Bharat Forge, the flagship, and other group companies are false. This may weaken Baba Kalyani’s key argument that the court should not allow the partition of the Kalyani family assets.
At stake are the Kalyani family’s holdings in Bharat Forge, Kalyani Steels, BF Investments, BF Utilities, Kalyani Investments, and Automotive Axles, companies with a collective market capitalisation exceeding ₹91,000 crore. They include promoter shareholdings of ₹3,335 crore in Kalyani Steels and ₹61,851 crore in Bharat Forge.
Gaurishankar Kalyani’s daughter, Sheetal Kalyani, had filed a suit in 2014 seeking a share of the family wealth. The situation worsened when Sulochana Kalyani, the wife of Neelakanth Rao Kalyani and mother of Baba, Gaurishankar and Sugandha, passed away in 2023. The Pune court was scheduled to hear the suit on Friday.
Separately, the brothers were embroiled in a legal dispute with the children of their sister Sugandha Hiremath, who went to court in March 2024 to demand one-ninth of the Kalyani family’s assets, estimated at ₹65,000 crore to ₹70,000 crore. It was in this case that Baba Kalyani filed an affidavit asserting that Sugandha’s children Sameer and Pallavi were not part of the Kalyani joint family because they lacked a common male ancestor.
No individual effort
In the affidavit, Baba Kalyani stated that there was no Kalyani family HUF and that property acquired by his grandfather, Annappa N. Kalyani (ANK), was not part of any HUF. Baba Kalyani further claimed that ANK was never the Karta of an HUF, and there was no HUF during his lifetime. The Karta of an HUF is usually the eldest male member of the family who manages the family’s earnings and expenses, including joint family properties.
The documents that Gaurishankar submitted seek to prove that the Kalyani family’s wealth stemmed from assets managed under the Kalyani HUF, including investments in companies such as Bharat Forge. He argued that the wealth and businesses under the Kalyani name were not the result of any individual entrepreneurial effort, as Baba Kalyani claimed, but derived from a family pool of assets controlled by the Kalyani HUF.
Gaurishankar’s filing pointed out that ANK was a moneylender, as substantiated by the wealth tax returns of the ANK HUF. The existence of the ANK HUF was also supported by the income tax returns filed over the years. It shows that the ANK HUF held shares in companies such as Bharat Forge and Kalyani Investment Company.
The documents highlight that the ANK HUF continued until 1991, when its assets were merged into the HUF of ANK’s son and the brothers’ grandfather Neelkanth Annappa Kalyani (NAK). NAK, in his capacity as the Karta of the NAK HUF, allegedly received significant assets from the ANK HUF.
Gaurishankar claimed that the funds invested in Bharat Forge by the NAK HUF originated from both the ANK HUF and NAK HUF, not from NAK’s personal funds. In 1971, he noted, the income tax department considered taxing NAK’s income individually, but legal opinion confirmed that the income derived from the shares in Bharat Forge was HUF income. Moreover, the NAK HUF also invested in the holding companies of Kalyani Steel, which remain part of its assets.
Gaurishankar alleged that Baba Kalyani pressured NAK in 1992 to transfer control of Bharat Forge and Kalyani Steel to him. However, these share transfers were deemed invalid, and they remain with the NAK HUF.
Gaurishankar contended that Baba Kalyani should not act as the Karta of the NAK HUF.
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