The clarifications given by Maruti Suzuki about its Gujarat plant confirmed the worst fears of many of the company's shareholders. The new song is quite different from that sung out loud in front of the press, as well as on an analyst call, by Chairman R C Bhargava a few weeks ago. This is the third time investors have been defrauded, for lack of a more appropriate word, by the company ever since it was listed; the other times being the merger of the engine plant at an unfavourable ratio and the steep increase in royalty to the parent company. The chairman has managed through intense investor and public relations initiatives to keep the company's reputation above water, but this incident confirms that he never really had their best interests in mind.
Rohan Soares Mumbai
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