Tatas fire fresh salvo at Mistry, says group companies hit during his period

Tata Sons hit out at ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry on Thursday, accusing him of underperforming and doing little to fix problem areas in India’s biggest business group.

A blistering nine-page statement issued by the holding company of the $103 billion conglomerate said dividends of 40 group firms, excluding Tata Consultancy Services, declined during Mistry’s four-year tenure while staff expenses zoomed.

The statement said Mistry was appointed chairman in 2012 – replacing Ratan Tata – because of his recorded views and plans but hardly any of his major views “have been implemented”.

“Even the then existing structure of the group which had stood the test of a long period of nearly 100 years… seem to have been consciously dismantled.”

The Tata Sons shocked the corporate world last month when it removed Mistry -- the single largest individual shareholder in the group that operates in 150 countries.

Ratan Tata, patriarch of the salt-to-software conglomerate, will take over as interim chairman for four months while a company-appointed search panel finds Mistry’s replacement.

Since then, a bruising war of words has erupted between the two sides.