Tata Sons sacks Mistry as chairman; Ratan Tata interim head

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Oct 25, 2016

In a dramatic development that took the corporates and others by surprise, Cyrus Mistry was sacked as chairman of Tata Sons and was replaced by Ratan Tata, from whom he had taken over the reins of the over USD 100 billion salt-to-software conglomerate four years ago.

The surprise announcement came after the Board of Tata Sons met in Mumbai and decided to replace 48-year-old Mistry and appoint Ratan Tata, 78, as interim head.

The board named a five-member search committee, which includes Tata, to choose a successor to Mistry within four months.

Mistry was chosen as Tata's successor in November, 2011, and was appointed Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons, whose board he had entered in 2006. He was made chairman on the basis of his representation from Shapoorji Palonji, the largest shareholder in Tata Sons

There were no reasons given for the change of leadership of the man who was brought in with much fanfare but it is believed that Tata Sons was unhappy with Mistry's approach of shedding non-profit businesses, including the conglomerate's steel business in Europe, and concentrating only on cash cows.

"Tata Sons today announced its board has replaced Mr Cyrus P Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons. The decision was taken at a board meeting held here today," a Tata Sons statement said.

Tata Sons is the main holding company of the group.

The board constituted a selection committee comprising Tata, TVS Group head Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya. All of them, except Bhattacharya, are on the board of Tata Sons.

"The committee has been mandated to complete the selection process in four months," it added.