825 (Part 1/10) Will Mr. Ratan Tata become another Vijay Mallya? It is difficult to say!

It is difficult for ordinary donkeys like me to answer this question. To answer this question, one should have inside information of what has really happened, is happening, and will happen in Tata Group Companies. Even Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of U.S.A., Scotland Yard of UK, KGB of Russia, (etc. etc. globally), Enforcement Directorate, CBI, Supreme Court of INdia, High Courts, SEBI, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, in India, will not be able to answer this question, because most of them will start their work, after something happens, and that something comes out in a significant manner, and in any way after things become nearly UNSOLVABLE. They enter late. Proof: We have seen this in case of Sahara, Vijay Mallya's Borrowings, AgriGold, Sharada Chits (Bengal), Satyam Computers of RamaLinga Raju.

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION

I do not wish to create here some panicky rumours about Tata Group of Companies, or some other Group of Companies. Writers, do not have such genius brains to create rumours. Writers, basically, are analyists. Then, their thoughts are influenced by some sort of ideas and ideologies, howsoever, anachronistic / outdated they may be. And those analyses are to be based on SOUND LOGICAL REASONING and not on HEARSAY or BASELESS APPREHENSIONS / FEARS.

I have only one grievance and grouse. Year by year, writers are becoming slaves of Capitalists, because writers for their livelihood and survival, depend on the Capitalists. Media Business Analysts, Credit RAting Analysers etc. have lost their sense of reasoning after their socialisation with the Corporate Empires.

NEED FOR WRITERS TO HAVE IDEOLOGIES

My ideology is True-Complete Socialism which may be anachronistic and sometimes seem day-dreaming. What I write here therefore, is an examination of global scenario, UK scenario, Indian Scenario, European Scenario, African scenario etc. from the point of view of attainment of True Complete Socialism through civilised unbarbaric / legally permitted ways, through intellectual upgradation of people, particularly those who take voting decisions. What I write, I intend to make them useful not only to INdian voters, but also global voters, particularly, contextually, now, the American Voters who are going to "DECIDE" their voters in a week's time.

Decisions taken by Heads of Governments / Institutions / Businesses / Corporates, have been, now are, and will continue, to be complex. They will have long term implications affecting economies / political state(s) of countries and Nations. Hence, whether in Capitalism , or in True Complete Socialism, or something else, decisions are to be taken COLLECTIVELY, and not at the fancies and whims of some charismatic individuals, howsoever great their geniuses may be.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE OF 'CLAN' OR 'DYNASTIC' AFFAIRS

We shall start with an interesting link. Click to go to Deccanchronicle.com dated 29.10.16 containing an Opinion of Ms. Shobhaa Dey about the fallout between Mr. Cyrus Mistry and Shri Ratan Tata. Here is one quote from the article of Ms. Shobhaa which highlights the need for local knowledge, and interest of locals into the affairs of our Corporate Emperors.

"...In India, it’s difficult to get bigger than the reticent Shapoorji Pallonji family. I am not going to trace the family tree to show how exactly the main protagonists in this messy sacking are related — through marriage and otherwise. Even for someone like myself, living in South Mumbai, and not too far from where these billionaires reside, I can tell you confidently, most people wouldn’t recognise anybody from the Pallonji family besides Cyrus Mistry’s bête noire — the larger-than-life, living legend Ratan Tata. Here’s an intricate and complex saga waiting for a television series — so many intriguing players playing such complex games! The mind boggles.. ..."

Ms. Shobhaa Dey has not given the relationship betwee Mr. Cyrus Mistry and Shri Ratan Tata: This information can be studied at the link Click to go to Wikipedia for studying more about Shri Cyrus Pallonji Mistry..

"...Mistry was born to a Parsi family in Mumbai, the younger son of Indian billionaire and construction magnate Pallonji Mistry by his wife Patsy Perin Dubash. Both his parents belong to the Zoroastrian faith and have roots in India. However, Mistry's mother was born in Ireland, and his father chose to take up Irish citizenship. Mistry has an elder brother, Shapoor Mistry, who is also an Irish citizen, and is married to Behroze Sethna, the daughter of Parsi lawyer Rusi Sethna. Mistry also has two sisters, Laila and Aloo. Laila is married to Rustom Jehangir, a London-based portfolio fund manager. Aloo is married to Noel Tata, the half-brother of Ratan Tata. ..."

yb-donkey's personal views, not intended to be imposed on others, but there is nothing wrong in publishing them

Like elsewhere in the world, particularly the USA, Canada, Europe, ANZ, South East Asia, the Corporate Governance in India also is FUMID and MURKY. The only difference is in US-Can, Europe, ANZ, dynastic puppety controls of Corporates are kept closed secrets, whereas in India there is no such "siggu biLLa (Telugu language phrase)". Approximate English for the Telugu word 'siggu biLLa': siggu=shame, shyness. biLLa=a small plate. In old days it was a custom in Telugu language spoken areas, to tie to the waist of cradle-baby-girls and toddler-baby-girls, with a banian-leaf shaped silver-leaf to hide its genitals from the view of elders.

Dynastic Successions in India take place quite openly, though some pretensions are made of first admitting the Princes and Princesses into the Companies as Junior Levels, and make them to work two or three years to gain a first hand experience of ground level working of their Empire. To make this siggu biLLa more meaningful, some Company Patriarchs make their Princes and Princesses to acquire prestigious Business School Degrees from High Profile Institutions and Business Schools like ISB, or foreign degrees from High Profile Degree Merchants like Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Yale. Everything proceeds swiftly, to facilitate anointment and coronation of the Princes and Princesses, and to make the crowning ceremonies as legitimate-looking as possible.

Consequently, there are very very few Corporates in India, which do not have dynastic bosses. This is particularly true, even where Professionals are appointed as Chair persons, CEOs or CFOs. They will have to function only as puppets, and should get ready to resign / step down, when strings are pulled by dynastic bosses. This moribund / morient decay continues, in spite of lofty speeches delivered by dynastic bosses, as a part of their Public Relations Exercises.

INDIAN POLITICS

The umbrageousness of the Corporate Governance in India is not different from the umbrageous Country Governance in India. When Mr. Manmohan Singh was made Prime Minister of India for two terms, at least some innocent persons expected that there will be a true professional governance of the country, and there will be little dynastic interference. What is the outcome of the ten year rule of Mr. Manmohan Singh, with his acquiescence to the incursions and intrusions from the Congress President, Vice President, and their coteries? When accusations of corruption in scams such as Telecom Scam, CoalMines Scam, swarmed Mr. Singh, he tried to save himself by referring to ERRORS OF JUDGEMENT, compulsions of coalition Governments, etc. During the tenure of Mr. Singh, decisions which were supposed to be taken on COLLECTIVE DECISIONS, ON THE BASIS OF RECOMMENDATIONS OF EXPERT COMMITTEES AFTER DUE STUDIES, everything was stage-managed to appear as though procedures were meticulously followed, on paper.

As can be seen from the Wikipedia information above, Tatas , while five years back choosing and inducting Mr. Mistry, as successor of Shri Ratan Tata, seem to have taken into account his Zorashtrian faith, and the marital relationship of his sister to Shri Noel Tata of Tata Clan. It is not clear, whether Mr. Mistry conducted himself as an Independent Professional Manager, or as a puppet Manager. Had he conducted himself as a 100% Professional, with its concomitant ethics, probably, he might have been sacked in no time. Instead, he ruled the Company nearly five years, and that long tenure gives an impression that he might have acted only as a symbolic de jurie Head, while the strings remained in the hands of Tata Emperors. Today, probably because as things have gone wrong with some of the businesses of the Group in India and Overseas, when the need for taking up responsibility for decisions arose, the axe seem to have fallen on Mr. Mistry.

Anyway, this blog or this blogpost is not about Mr. Ratan Tata, or the Tata Empire, or Mr. Vijay Mallya or his Brewery Empires. Tatas and Mallyas are only the TIPS of the ICEBERGS in global Business Oceans. Even 10,000 pages will not be enough to discuss the Global Corporate Governance or the Indian Corporate Governance. My remaining active life of about 5/6 years will not be sufficient to discuss. But, there is nothing wrong in trying. To continue. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.