Fact Check: Did Ratan Tata buy 50% stake in Mumbai teen's pharmacy chain?

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata is known to encourage new business ideas and even support them financially. Over the years, the industrialist has invested in a number of startups that eventually became huge names including Ola, Paytm, Snapdeal, CureFit, Urban Ladder, Lenskart, and Lybrate.

Recently, there were media reports stating that Ratan Tata has backed yet another entrepreneur. The news gained weightage as this time around the entrepreneur was an 18-year-old boy from Mumbai.

The claim

Several leading publications reported that Ratan Tata has picked up at least 50 per cent stake in a pharmacy chain known as Generic Aadhar which is promoted by a Mumbai teenager named Arjun Deshpande. The reports also claimed that the development was confirmed by Arjun himself.

Started in 2018, the startup follows a unique pharmacy-aggregator business model that involves procuring generic drugs directly from manufacturers and then selling them to retail pharmacies. This way, the company manages to eliminate around 16-20 per cent wholesaler margin.

Having a tie-up with four WHO-GMP certified manufacturers in Palghar, Ahmedabad, Pondicherry and Nagpur, Generic Aadhar's annual revenue has touched Rs 6 crore.

Fact-checking the claim

With news reports carrying a confirmation by Arjun, it was almost certain that Ratan Tata actually bought a 50 per cent stake in his business. The teenager had even narrated his meeting with the business tycoon revealing that Ratan Tata showed keen interest in his economic model and agreed to support and mentor him.

However, Ratan Tata on Friday, May 8, took to Twitter to issue a clarification in this regard. He said that he did provide some monetary help to the promising startup but it was more of a minority token investment. He denied the reports claiming that he bought a stake in Generic Aadhar.

As happy as I am to support this venture, it has been a minority token investment.
I have not purchased 50% stake in the company," he wrote along with posting a screenshot of one of the false reports.

Lately, Ratan Tata is himself coming forward to clarify whenever a false piece of information is published concerning him.