A viral post quoting Ratan Tata about the impact of coronavirus on the Indian economy is fake with the industrialist refuting the same on Twitter.
The image circulating on social media claims that Ratan Tata has written a motivational message suggesting that the Indian economy will bounce back and recover quickly after the coronavirus outbreak, despite experts predicting otherwise.The message cites examples of Japan during the Second World War, Israel's war with the Arabs, laws of aerodynamics, India's 1983 Cricket World Cup victory, Wilma Rudolf winning gold at the Olympics, and Arunima Sinha climbing the Everest.
BOOM received this image multiple times on its WhatsApp helpline requesting for its veracity to be tested and whether Ratan Tata had actually put out any such message.
Many celebrities have also believed that this statement has been made by Tata and shared it on their social media accounts. Abhishek Bachchan also posted the same on his Instagram account, but soon deleted it.
Even Arshad Warsi tweeted the image with a caption that in the current depressing times, such messages are a source of motivation.
After all the depressing news, came across something so true and motivating. My level of respect for Mr Ratan Tata is inexplicable... 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/5kMfYg5VfL
— Arshad Warsi (@ArshadWarsi) April 11, 2020
You can view the archive of the tweet here.
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Fact Check
The former chairman of Tata Sons, took to Twitter to refute the quote and requested users to verify the messages being shared on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
This post has neither been said, nor written by me. I urge you to verify media circulated on WhatsApp and social platforms. If I have something to say, I will say it on my official channels. Hope you are safe and do take care. pic.twitter.com/RNVL40aRTB
— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000) April 11, 2020
BOOM also searched the text on Google to find the origin of this statement. The quote was first uploaded on April 9, 2020 on a website called purplerealtors, a Pune based Real Estate Agency. The message was a blog post and was not attributed to any specific person and Tata was not mentioned in the original post.
The Tata Group of Companies has donated over Rs 1500 cr to assist in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. These funds are to be used towards manufacturing personal protective equipment, testing kits, respiratory systems and training and management of medical staff.
India has so far reported 7447 cases and 239 deaths due to the virus SARS-COV-2.
This is not the first time BOOM has debunked a statement falsely attributed to Ratan Tata. In the past, a quote about not recruiting students of JNU for Tata Group of Companies was falsely attributed to Tata. Earlier, BOOM debunked fake quotes of him claimed to be taking potshots at Pakistan and the Congress, and before the Lok Sabha elections, BOOM debunked a story where a fake Twitter handle made people believe that he commented against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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