MUMBAI: Ousted chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry, on Wednesday, retracted his claims that Ratan Tata had proposed to sell Group cash cow Tata Consultancy Services to IBM saying that he did not have first hand knowledge of the proposal, but that sources close to JRD Tata had told him that it was so.
The retraction came after Group veterans F C Kohli and B Muthuraman rubbished claims that Mistry made on Tuesday that Ratan Tata had wanted to sell TCS and that his “ego” had led to bad decisions, including the acquisition of steel giant Corus for “double” the price.
Mistry said that his statement on TCS was based on “information from sources who were close to JRD Tata who informed him that it was Ratan Tata’s intention, and not the group’s intention, to sell TCS”. The statement from his office came within hours of industry veteran and former CEO of TCS F C Kohli called his claims “incorrect”. “Mistry’s comments regarding the sale of TCS to IBM at some ‘unspecified point in time’ are not correct... At no point at that time was there ever an intention of the Tata Group to sell TCS to IBM,” said Kohli.
Meanwhile, Muthuraman, former Tata Steel head called his claims of overpayment for Corus “frivolous and unconsidered comments”. “The long term strategy of Tata Steel was well thought out after a lot of deliberation to grow the company through capacity expansion in India and internationally through inorganic growth. The overseas growth strategy was also to focus on accessing new markets through acquisitions, enhance the technology capability of the company and develop high end premium products,” he said.
Mistry however, hastened to say that he did not “say that the ultimate decision was not unanimous, but there were differences and reservations..” adding that the fact that Corus was available for half the price was “undisputed”. He had said on Tuesday that it was Tata’s ego that had made buy Corus for “double” its worth.