Mistry vows to keep up his fight with Ratan Tata

Tata Group’s former chairman Cyrus Mistry Wednesday said his ouster from IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has strengthened his resolve to continue his fight against company patriarch Ratan Tata.
Mistry was ousted as the director of Tata group’s cash cow IT business TCS on Tuesday by an overwhelming vote.
In a letter Wednesday after the vote, Mistry remained unperturbed and promised to fight for corporate governance practices adopted by Tata goup affiliate companies.
“I will continue to work at various forums to be voice for change in Tata Group, its governance and protection of stakeholders’ rights,” Mistry said in his letter.
Mistry was unceremoniously sacked in October as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of India’s most famous family conglomerate — the $103 billion steel-to-salt Tata Group.
The shock move saw Ratan Tata, 78, who led the group for more than two decades, reassert his authority over the sprawling group, including taking interim charge until a successor is found.
The pair have traded barbs since Mistry’s ouster, plunging the group into bitter infighting with directors firmly placed in either camp.
In a statement Wednesday after he was booted out, Mistry said Tata Sons owned a 73 percent stake in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Of the remaining shareholders, 70 percent either abstained or voted against the resolution to remove him from his post of director, Mistry said.
“The voting in TCS is a strong signal from minority shareholders that the need for governance reform must not go unheeded,” Mistry said.
In a letter sent to investors and shareholders ahead of the vote, Mistry said he wasn’t seeking to save his job, but was attempting to “save the soul” of the conglomerate.
“We have witnessed an unmatched erosion of ethical values and the very foundation of the institution being put to grave risk by the conduct of a few,” Mistry had said in the letter.
Tata Sons has called for its operating companies to hold Extraordinary General Meetings to oust Mistry from their various boards. Tata Industries was the first to do so earlier this week, followed by TCS and Tata Teleservices.
Other Tata group companies including Indian Hotels, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, and Tata Chemicals are scheduled to hold EGM’s next week to decide Mistry’s fate.
The Tata Group was founded under British colonial rule in 1868. It operates in more than 100 countries and owns high-profile companies such as Britain’s Tetley Tea and Anglo-Dutch steel firm Corus.

Source: Arab News