 "Financial statements present a true and fair view: Tata firms")
Various Tata firms on Thursday said that their financial statements present "a true and fair view" of the state of affairs as bourses sought clarification following the disclosures by Tata Sons' ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry.
"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 the preparation of financial statements, the value-in-use of the assets of the company is tested for impairment as per the Accounting Standards," Tata Steel, Indian Hotels and Tata Teleservices said in their statement.
Tata Motors said its "business and product strategies, operations and financial performance" were reviewed and approved by its board periodically.
"Our accounting policies as prescribed and appropriate to present true and fair view are reviewed by the Audit Committee and is presented in our financial statements. Provisions and write-offs as appropriate are being made in our audited or reviewed financial statements after evaluating useful life, volumes and alternate usages and these are reviewed or approved by the audit committee and the board.
"Product decisions like new product launches and/or product stoppages will be announced as you would expect and as per industry practices, in the course of implementation of our long term strategy," the automobile manufacturer told the bourses.
The stock exchanges on Wednesday had sought clarification from Tata group's Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Indian Hotels, Tata Teleservices and Tata Power "with respect to news appearing on Bloomberg on October 26".
The firms also said it had "currently nothing further to comment or disclose".
In a letter to the Tata Sons board and the group's trustees, the 49-year-old Mistry on Wednesday said: "The capital employed in these companies had risen from Rs 132,000 crore to Rs 196,000 crore, due to operational losses, interest and capex. This figure is close to the net worth of the group, which is at Rs 174,000 crore."
In relation to small car project Nano, Mistry had said the car "has consistently lost value, peaking at Rs 1,000 crore". He also said that with "no line of sight to profitability for the Nano, any turnaround strategy" for Tata Motors required that production of the car be "shut down".
Market watchdog Securities Exchange Board of India is also reported to be looking into Mistry's disclosures to verify if there was any breach of corporate governance, violation of listing norms and regulations by the Tata group or its listed firms and financial or other irregularities.
Dismissing reports about the exit of Rakesh Sarna, Managing Director and CEO of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, the Indian Hotels and Tata Sons on Thursday said that reports were "completely baseless and unfounded."
