F.C. Kohli, aged 93 cleared the air for Ratan Tata. He refuted the allegations made by Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Tata Sons. Kohli relentlessly went on record to say, “Cyrus Mistry’s comments regarding the sale of TCS to IBM at some ‘unspecified point in time’ are not correct. I was actively involved in the decision to bring IBM to India”.
He also said,“A joint venture (JV) for hardware manufacturing and support in India, Tata IBM, was set up in 1991-92. This JV was undertaken to promote the computer hardware industry in India, which was non-existent at that time”.He also added to his statement,“At no point in time was there ever an intention of the Tata Group to sell TCS to IBM”. However, if the media reports are to be believed, the Joint venture was dissolved in 1999.
Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Tata Sons recently punctured the allegations that he was an aloof chairman at the Tata Group’s profitable companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Contrarily , he blamed his predecessor Ratan Tata for prioritising own ambitions and neglecting the institution’s prosperity.
Mr. Mistry’s office didn’t hesitate to reveal that Ratan Tata, at the time when he was heading Tata Industries’ JV with IBM, had taken a proposal from IBM to buyout TCS. He approached to JRD Tata with the proposal.
“The statement Mr Mistry made was based on information from sources who were close to J R D Tata, who informed him that it was Ratan Tata’s intention, and not the group’s intention, to sell TCS,” Mistry’s office issued a statement after Kohli issued his statement. Additionally,the statement also disclosed the fact JRD Tata refused to discuss the deal as TCS CEO F.C. Kohli was then hospitalised.
