DEFAMATION CASE AGAINST

RATAN TATA BY CYRUS MISTRY

VINAY BHANDARI (69)
ABHISHEK SHETTY(108)
CYRUS MISTRY
 Cyrus Pallonji Mistry  (born 4 July 1966) is an Irish businessman
of Indian origin who was the chairman of Tata Group, between 2012
and 2016.
 He was the sixth chairman of the group, and only the second
(after Nowroji Saklatwala) to not bear the surname Tata. In mid-
2012, he was chosen by a selection panel to head the Tata group and
took charge in December the same year.
 Mistry has been managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji & Company
and the Pallonji group was the second biggest shareholder of the
Tata group with 18.4% stake.
Mistry joined the board of Tata Sons on 1 September 2006, a
year after his father retired from it . He served as a Director
of Tata Elxsi Limited, Tata Power Co. Ltd.
In 2012, Mistry was appointed as the chairman of Tata Sons. In
addition, he was also chairman of all major Tata companies
including Tata Industries, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata
Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Teleservices, Indian
Hotels, Tata Global Beverages and Tata Chemicals.
The Tata Sons Board voted to remove Mistry from the
Chairmanship of Tata Sons on 24 October 2016
Growth and Decline
 Shares of many Tata Group companies have rallied sharply since
December 28, 2012, the day Mistry took charge.
 Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors have gained 92% and
81% respectively since Mistry took charge on December 28, 2012.
Tata Communications has surged 183%.However, Tata Power
declined 23%, Tata Global Beverages fell 4% and Tata Steel was also
down 0.50% over the same period.
 The combined market valuation of all listed companies of Tata
Group almost doubled during the four-year tenure of Mistry. The
market capitalisation of the listed companies of Tata Group stands at
around $125 billion now or about Rs 8.5 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.6
lakh crore in December 2012.
 NTT DOCOMO , INC.
 It  is the predominant mobile phone operator in japan .The
company's headquarters are in the sanno park tower, tokyo. At the
beginning of 2015, it was the fourth largest public company in japan
when measured by market capitalization.
 NTT DOCOMO announced it was entering into a strategic alliance
with the tatas. The japanese telecom giant which, with 53 million
customers and 51.5% of the japanese market, is one of the world’s
largest players in the telecommunications industry, bought a 26%
stake in tata teleservices ltd (TTSL) for $2.7 billion.
 The two agreed that if Tata Tele failed in financial and market
performance Tatas would need to give Docomo an exit buy buying
back shares at half the investment value or finding a buyer at higher
than that. 
NTT DOCOMO Exit
On 25 April 2014, NTT Docomo had announced that they
would sell all of their shares in Tata DoCoMo and exit
the Indian telecom industry as they had incurred a total loss of
$1.3 billion. Under the joint venture agreement between the
two groups, NTT Docomo would either increase its stake from
26.5% to 51%, or sell all of its shares, depending on the
performance of Tata Docomo in the Indian market.
 Since Tata was unable to find a buyer for the shares, they sought the
approval of the RBI, in November 2014, to buy back the shares from
NTT Docomo for $1.1 billion (at ₹58.045 per share), half the price
paid by them in 2009. The RBI had approved the deal in January
2015, but however, went back on their decision and rejected the deal
in March 2015, citing FEMA regulations. Following the RBI
decision, the Tata Group offered to purchase Docomo's stake
at ₹23.34 a share on the basis of a fair market value determined on 30
June 2014 by PwC. NTT Docomo then moved the London Court of
International Arbitration seeking a valuation of ₹58 a share.

 On 28 February 2017, Tata and NTT Docomo resolved their dispute,

after the former announced that it would pay the latter US$1.18
billion in exchange for NTT Docomo's shares in the joint venture. On
31 October, $1.27 billion was paid to NTT Docomo by Tata Sons,
thus ending the dispute.
 Timeline of the case
2016
 24 October: Tata Sons removes Cyrus Mistry as executive chairman of
the group holding company, appoints Ratan Tata as interim chairman,
and disbands the group executive council.
 25 October: Mistry, in a letter to the Tata Sons board, warns of an $18
billion write-down and alleges ‘shadow control’ by Tata trustees.
 5 November: Tata group’s listed companies start announcing
extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) to remove Mistry as chairman.
 10 November: Tata Sons replaces Mistry as chairman of Tata
Consultancy Services with Ishaat Hussain as interim chairman.
 14 November: Independent directors at Tata Motors refuse to take sides,
saying the automaker’s board was collectively responsible for all
decisions relating to strategy and operations.
 16 December: Nusli Wadia, Wadia group chairman who was
removed as an independent director from the boards of Tata Motors
and Tata Steel, files a defamation suit against Tata Sons and Ratan
Tata, calling the allegations leveled against him libelous and
defamatory.
 19 December: Mistry resigns as director from all Tata group
companies.
 20 December: Mistry family firms file a case against Tata Sons at
the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), alleging oppression of
minority shareholders and mismanagement.
 27 December: Wadia writes to the Securities and Exchange Board of
India (Sebi) alleging violation of insider trading norms at Tata Sons.
 2017
11 January: Mistry firms file contempt plea in NCLT, stating that Mistry’s
removal from the board violates a 22 December 2016 order by the tribunal
which said that no party would initiate any action or proceedings over the
subject matter pending disposal of the company petition.
12 January: Tata Sons names N. Chandrasekaran, CEO of Tata Consultancy
Services Ltd, as its chairman.
18 January: NCLT dismisses Mistry firms’ contempt plea.
23 January: Sebi’s board rules that operating group companies sharing
information with chairman emeritus (Ratan Tata) does not amount to insider
trading.
24 January: Mistry firms seek a waiver from NCLT on 10% shareholding
threshold for filing the case alleging oppression and mismanagement.
6 February: Mistry removed as director of Tata Sons.
21 February: Chandrasekaran takes charge as chairman of Tata Sons.
 21 February: Chandrasekaran takes charge as chairman of Tata
Sons.
 28 February: Tata Sons settles legal dispute with NTT DoCoMo
Inc.
 6 March: NCLT rules Mistry firms’ plea is not maintainable under
the Companies Act.
 14 March: Ankur Verma, managing director of Merrill Lynch, joins
Chandrasekaran’s core team for deals, the first of a series of
investment banker hires.
 17 April: NCLT dismisses Mistry firms’ request for waiver of
shareholding threshold requirement and main petition alleging
oppression and mismanagement against Tata Sons.
 21 April: Mistry firms move the National Company Law Appellate
Tribunal (NCLAT) against NCLT order on maintainability.
 22 May: Saurabh Agrawal, head of corporate strategy at the Aditya
Birla Group, joins Tata Sons as group chief financial officer.
 5 July: A Mumbai court admits Rs500 crore defamation suit by R.
Venkataramanan, a trustee at Tata Trusts, against Mistry.
 4 August: Sebi rules that there are no governance lapses at Tata
group firms.
 23 August: Banmali Agrawala joins Tata Sons as president of
aerospace, infrastructure and defence sectors.
 29 August: Tata Sons sends out an EGM notice to pass resolutions
enabling it to become a private company and give voting rights to
preferential shareholders.
 20 September: Tata Steel announces merger of Tata Steel Europe
with Thyssenkrupp AG.
 21 September: Board of Tata Sons approves the proposal to turn the
firm into a private company.
 Mistry firms win waiver from shareholding threshold limit from
NCLAT.
 6 October: NCLT refuses to transfer Mistry’s plea from the Mumbai
bench to the Delhi bench of the tribunal.
 13 October: Tata Teleservices announces merger of consumer
mobile business with Bharti Airtel.
 2018 NCLT verdict
2018
 9 July: The National Company Law Tribunal(NCLT), which
"adjudicates issues relating to Indian companies," issued a verdict in
favor of Tata Sons on charges of mismanagement leveled by Mistry
in 2016, two months following his ousting as chairman, through
a vote of non-confidence. On 10 July, Mistry stated that he would
appeal the decision.
Effects on share value of Tata Sons
Among the major Tata Companies,
Tata Motors declined 1.2%
Tata Steel was down 2.5%
 Tata Communications fell 2.4%
Tata Power was down 1.9%
Tata Consultancy Services fell 0.7%.