 "Illustration: Ajay Mohanty")
Ratan Tata tasted a big victory getting shareholder nod for the removal of Cyrus Mistry from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) board, riding on 73 per cent promoter holding. But, the Mistry camp has found silver linings in the voting fine print. When voting details are juxtaposed on the shareholding pattern, it emerges that Mistry seems to have had the backing of a few foreign portfolio investors (FPI). He won over 100 million institutional votes. Assuming that LIC did not vote and given the combined voting power of domestic institutions (MFs and other insurers) was just about 36 million, this would not have been possible without significant FPI support. Among non-promoter non-institutional voters, a whopping 82 per cent did not bother to vote. Advantage Tata? The mystery will unravel in the coming weeks.
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