Mistry leadership used PR machinery to deny critical reports: Tata Sons

Ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry's leadership was intolerant to critical reports and used PR machinery of Tatas to deny such accounts, which did not reflect the ethos of fair play and transparency of the group, Tata Sons said on Thursday.

The promoter of the major operating Tata companies claimed that during Mistry's reign, unbiased and professional analysis of the group that differ from version put out by Bombay House (the Tata  headquarters) have been treated as "uniformly wrong".

Tata Sons also accused Mistry camp of feeding the media with the total group figures over the past four years as evidence of the progress without highlighting that the aggregate figures showed a good picture largely, if not only, due "to the excellent performance on all parameters of just two companies, namely, TCS and  Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

"There is no complaint about these good legacies!" Tata Sons said in a statement.

Lashing out at the ousted chairman, the company further said: "It is evident that the group under Mr Mistry's leadership was intolerant to critical reports about the actions taken under his aegis."

It said over the past four years, only a very few such partially negative reports have appeared in some parts of the media the most recent one being by the highly respected 'Economist' magazine of the UK, which was really a well-balanced and critical review of the Tata group's performance in recent years and which was reproduced by another respected Indian daily".

"Even this report was vociferously refuted in the strongest terms by the PR machinery of Tatas as being biased and incorrect," Tata Sons said.

"In short, those who analyse the overall position of the group in an unbiased and professional way which may differ from the version put out by Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) are uniformly wrong, even if they only seek to present an overall balanced picture which may (and rightly should) include the negative aspects," the statement said.

The company said: "This attitude does not befit an old and venerable house like Tatas known for their fair play and transparency."

Taking a dig at Mistry's recent interview published on the Tata group website, Tata Sons said: ..."one cannot help but feel that there is a very selective reference only to achievements and in the interest of transparency and balance, one feels compelled to highlight some of the areas which emerged over the last four years, which have not been mentioned at all."

Earlier in the day, Tata Sons issued a nine-page statement making a point by point rebuttal to the letter which Mistry had written to its board members a day after he was ousted on October 24.