Earlier reading from a prepared text Polaris CMD Arun Jain sought to clarify the issue by stating: ``In the second week of September, 2000 we communicated that we were not interested in pursuing the deal and we were calling off the proposed acquisition. And Data Inc agreed''. He, however, did not give any further details of the due diligence conducted by KPMG citing confidentiality agreement with the firm. Polaris officials tried to explain the delay in communicating the development to the shareholders by stating that both the companies (Data Inc and Polaris) had `agreed in principle' to announce the calling off when Mr Arun Verma, president of Data Inc visited India next.

Polaris had informed the stock exchanges and the media about calling off the deal only on September 30 though Data Inc was intimated in the second week of September itself. The company spokesman maintained that no price sensitive information was withheld from the public and went on to say that Polaris continued to practice best corporate governance apart from complying with all the SEBI rules. Interestingly, when The Financial Express had met Mr Jain on September 21, he said that the deal was progressing well, albeit slowly. Analysts have expressed surprise in the delay on the part of Polaris in informing the stakeholders. The company, they said, would have come out of this issue much better had they been more transparent but nevertheless they are confident that the future growth of the company will not be affected on account of this development.