When Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Rs 70,000-crore Tata Group, and his successor, Mr Cyrus Mistry, made their first press conference appearance together at an Infiniti retail event on Monday, eyebrows were raised.

Why would the duo make their first public appearance to announce an e-commerce initiative, which was neither ground breaking nor pioneering? Croma was certainly not the first to enter the online retail space.

While one could only conjecture about their appearance, there were plenty of light moments at the event, that showed the duo's chemistry.

Mr Tata and Mr Mistry showed their dramatic talents when they acted in a 15-minute script where they played the part of customers who ordered three smartphones online, which was delivered by a Croma salesman at their doorstep.

Mr Cyrus Mistry is to take over from Mr Ratan Tata this December. Mr Mistry has been on an orientation programme and has been doing the rounds with Mr Tata over the last few weeks.

When asked about his favourite gadget, Mr Tata voted for smartphones. But he added, “I have too many and don't know what to do with them.” Mr Mistry said that that his current favourite gadget is an Ipad 3.

Interestingly, Tata's consumer durable firm, Infinity Retail, that runs Croma stores, is a rather late entrant into the e-tailling business, dominated by companies such as Flipkart.

>priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

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