Tatas back Vaishnavi, deny payouts to govt

The Tata group today said Vaishnavi Communications, the firm which handles its communication strategies, had never made any payouts to or sought undue favours from any government department.

The statement follows media reports yesterday that the phones of Niira Radia, who owns Vaishnavi and Neucom Consulting, were being tapped over allegations about her role in trying to influence the 2G spectrum allocation in 2008 and for being in contact with Communications Minister A Raja.

The issue reverberated in Parliament yesterday with the functioning of both Houses being disrupted, as the Opposition was demanding an explanation from the government.

Radia’s firms handle the public relations and communication functions of two of India’s biggest corporate groups — the Tata group and Reliance Industries.

A Tata group statement issued today said it “has had a long and fruitful association with Vaishnavi and its chairperson Niira Radia, which has added substantial value to the group's communications and public perception”.

It also said that all of Vaishnavi's interactions with the government on behalf of the Tata group related to seeking a level playing field and equity in areas where vested interests had caused distortions or aberrations in policy. “Further, Vaishnavi's interactions with the government on behalf of the Tata group, have, in keeping with the Tata values, never involved payouts or seeking undue favours,” the statement said.

Raja has been facing allegations of distributing new telecom licences and spectrum at a huge loss to the exchequer.

Nine new licences were issued in January 2008 at Rs 1,658 crore for pan-India operations. The Central Bureau of Investigations is looking into the matter.

Meanwhile, responding to allegations that Radia helped Unitech get telecom licence, Uninor said,

“We are owned by the Telenor Group and Unitech Ltd. We cannot comment in detail on behalf of either of our owners, specially on an issue that precedes this venture. What we can say is that we have and will always follow all legal guidelines and directions from the government.”

A senior executive of Datacaom, responding to the allegation that Radia helped the company in getting the licence, said: “We have had no relationship with her even before or currently. The information given is totally baseless.”