Tata Steel & Indian Hotels mum on Cyrus Mistry ouster

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Tata Steel and Indian Hotels on 27 October said they have always made all relevant disclosures and have no further comments to offer following comments made by ousted Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry that Tata group firms could face a potential US $18 billion writedown.

"The financial statements of the company are prepared on a going concern basis and present a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company. As part of preparation of financial statements, the value-in-use of the assets of the company is tested for impairment as per accounting standards," Tata Steel and Indian Hotels Company said in a filing to BSE.

These comments come against the backdrop of the high-profile Tata-Mistry case, with stock exchanges seeking clarifications from various group companies, including Tata Steel and Tata Power, after purported disclosure of around US$ 18-billion possible writedown at the firms.

"The financial statements are considered by our audit committee and unanimously approved by the chairman and the board of directors of the company... the company has currently nothing further to comment or disclose," Indian Hotels said.

In an explosive communication to Tata Sons board members, Mistry levelled a series of allegations against Ratan Tata and contended that he was pushed into a position of "lame duck" chairman, and changes in the decision-making process created alternative power centres in the Tata group.

He warned that the salt-to-software conglomerate may face writedowns because of five unprofitable businesses he inherited.

Mistry further said he inherited a debt-laden enterprise saddled with losses and went on to single out Indian Hotels Co, passenger-vehicle operations of Tata Motors, European operations of Tata Steel, part of the group's power unit and its telecommunications subsidiary as "legacy hotspots".

--PTI