Ratan Tata busts fake news, says quote about corona impact on economy floating on WhatsApp not his

As the country struggles to cope with the Covid-19 outbreak, several unsubstantiated claims, fake quotes and untrue facts are doing the rounds on social media. Despite stringent measures taken by the government to combat the menace of fake news in such challenging times, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to trace those responsible for spreading misinformation.
Indian billionaire philanthropist and former Chairman of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, recently took to Twitter to clarify that a quote about the impact of the novel coronavirus on the Indian economy which had been attributed to him was, in fact, not written or said by him.

Sharing a picture of the quote in the tweet, the 82-year-old wrote, “I urge you to verify media circulated on WhatsApp and social platforms.”


After busting the fake piece of news, the Indian industrialist clarified that if he has something to say, he’ll say it through the official channels.

The quote, which was apparently attributed to Tata, slammed the ‘experts’ who predicted the ‘downfall of the Indian economy’. “I do not know much about these experts.But I know for sure that they do not know anything about the value of human motivation and determined efforts,” the quote read.

On March 28, Tata had sent out a tweet announcing that he had committed Rs 500 crore for the development of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the frontline medical staff, ventilators, testing kits and modular treatment facilities.


For the uninitiated, the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, is quite active on all of his social media handles, including Twitter and Instagram. Tata had joined Instagram in October 2019 and has since then, gained over 2.2 million followers on the platform.