The boss of India’s leading biscuit maker, Britannia, has been fired after 24 years with the company.

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Sunil Alagh, known as the “baron of biscuits”, was dismissed because of abuse of office, according to Britannia’s audit committee, but many in the industry believe it was the culmination of tensions between Alagh and Nusli Wadia, who in alliance with French dairy group Danone, holds a 39% stake in Britannia, reported the Financial Times.

Alagh resigned last month but said he would remain in place until his contract expired early next year. Analysts said Wadia was keen to install his son Jeh in place of Alagh, who has earned industry-wide respect for his decade-long tenure as managing director at Britannia. In May Ninu Khanna was tipped for the top spot. Khanna is currently managing director of Bombay Dyeing, controlled by Wadia, which also has a significant stake in Britannia.

With leading brands, such as Tiger, Britannia has a 38% share of the Rs40bn (US$853.4m) biscuit market in India. The company reported net profit of Rs813m on sales of Rs13bn for the year to March.

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