 "R Venkataraman")
R Venkataramanan, popularly known as Venkat, the managing trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and also responsible for managing several key Tata Trusts, has finally resigned. A controversial aide of Tata group patriarch Ratan Tata, Venkat first made news when he was caught in the crossfire between Tata and former Tata Sons chairman, Cyrus Mistry in October 2016. But despite allegations of impropriety, Venkat emerged a significant influencer in the corridors of Bombay House, the Tata group headquarters.
His exit was finalised after an investigation of income tax department of Dorabji Tata Trust, the largest and most powerful of the group's trusts, which revealed that the trust paid Venkat Rs 2.66 crore as remuneration, which was not in accordance with the Trust’s deeds. In an order dated December 30, 2018, the income tax department withdrew the tax-exemption status for Dorabji Tata Trust on account of Venkataramanan’s significant compensation.
This order set the ground for his exit, say insiders.
This is not the first time Venkat has had a brush with controversy. A former Executive Assistant to Tata, Venkat was earlier accused by Mistry on two serious counts. First, asking Tata Capital to give loans to Chennai-based entrepreneur C Sivasankaran, a close friend of Tata, which later turned bad and, second, hiding fraudulent transactions in Air Asia. The Air Asia case is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. In its first information report, the CBI has named Venkat for lobbying with then UPA government for an airline licence, violating regulations on foreign airlines operating in India. The group has written off the loans to Sivasankaran, though the case is currently under arbitration.
“It was his proximity to Tata that made Venkat so powerful,” said a Bombay House old-timer. “Venkat attended every meeting for Ratan Tata’s personal investments,” said a person close to the development. “He even flew with Ratan Tata and Sivasankaran on personal trips and knows all the secrets of the group,” he added. Venkat’s equation with current group chairman, N Chandrasekaran, is not great either, the insider said.
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On Air Asia, Mistry had said a forensic investigation revealed fraudulent transactions of Rs 22 crore involving non-existent parties in India and Singapore. Venkatramanan, (who was on the board of Air Asia till recently) and also a minority shareholder in the company, considered these transactions as non-material and did not encourage further study. "It was only at the insistence of the independent directors, one of whom immediately submitted his resignation that the board decided to belatedly file a first information report,” Mistry had said. Since the charges were first made, the CBI searched Tata trust offices in June last year for more evidence. The CBI, media reports said, had seized electronic evidence, such as a laptop, from Venkataramanan during the search.
Insiders said Venkat, who is a science graduate and completed his MBA from the Sri Satya Sai University and a law degree from Mumbai University, prefers to keep a low profile but wields more power than many established CEOs. He joined Ratan Tata as Executive Assistant in 2007. “He was the eyes and ears of Ratan Tata after his retirement in 2012. Many of the personal investments made by Tata post his retirement in start-ups have been made only after it Venkat’s green signal,” said an insider. “He would often replace Tata in official functions with top politicians thus becoming his alter ego,” the official added.
In 2014, Venkat, who is in his late-forties, shifted to Tata Trust offices in Cuffe Parade from Bombay House but kept a close eye on the headquarters of the Tata group “With his lanky frame, he would always be seen with Tata and comes across as a friendly, next door guy,” said an another Tata official.
Prior to his association with Tata, Venkat was Head of Business Support at the Qatar Foundation, a non-profit based in Doha. He also worked with VSNL but his tenure there was not noted for any spectacular achievements. After VSNL's acquisition by Tata Communications in 2002, Venkat, who was a VSNL employee, came into the Tata fold. The rest, as they say, is history.
