Tatas Now Gun For Nusli Wadia, Who Backed Cyrus Mistry At Board Meeting

As the Tatas move to oust Cyrus Mistry from the boards of group companies, they are also asking the companies to remove industrialist Nusli Wadia as director from their boards.

Mr Wadia is an independent director on the boards of several Tata companies and had yesterday backed Mr Mistry as chairman of Tata Chemicals.

Today, three companies from India's largest conglomerate, Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals and Tata Steel said they had been asked by the group's holding company Tata Sons to call special meetings to remove both Mr Mistry and Mr Wadia from their boards.

Tata Steel reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 49.38 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2016-17. The total consolidated income of the steel giant rose marginally to Rs 27,471.15 crore in July-September quarter of the current fiscal, from Rs 27,456.30 crore a year ago.

Tata Sons controls a 26.51 per cent stake in Tata Motors, which owns luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover.

Also Read: Asked Cyrus Mistry To Step Down As Tata Chemicals' Chairman, Says Bhaskar Bhat

In a statement to Bombay Stock Exchange, Tata Motors said "the company has received a special notice from Tata Sons for convening an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company for considering and passing Resolutions for the removal of Mr. Cyrus P Mistry and Mr. Nusli N Wadia."

Tata Sons had sacked Cyrus Mistry as the group's chairman last month, but he has continued as chairman on the boards of group companies. On Thursday, Mr Mistry was removed as chairman of Tata Consultancy Services or TCS and replaced by Ishaat Hussain, a close aide of group patriarch Ratan Tata, who has taken over from Mr Mistry as group chairman till a replacement is found.

Nusli Wadia, the chief of the Wadia group, has been a director of Tata Motors since 1998. His association with Ratan Tata goes back many years. Mr Tata served on the board of Bombay Dyeing, the flagship company of the Wadia group, for 33 years before stepping down in 2013.

Cyrus Mistry had exchanged sharp accusations with the Tatas, blaming Ratan Tata for some of the group's biggest debacles and alleging failures in corporate governance at Tata Sons and some group companies.

Yesterday, in a nine-page statement, Tata Sons detailed the reasons for the ouster of Cyrus Mistry who was at the helm of Tata group for nearly four years. Tata Sons alleged that under Mr Mistry's leadership, it would have reported operating losses over the past three years if not for dividends from TCS.

The "significant dependence" on TCS under Mr Mistry's stewardship was a source of concern for its directors and shareholders, it said and accused Mr Mistry of betraying "trust".