Tata Sons ex-chairman Cyrus Mistry dies in car crash

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, September 4

Cyrus Mistry, a low-profile industrialist who once headed the Tata Group and was replaced in a boardroom coup in 2016, died on Sunday afternoon in a road accident in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. He was 54.

Was chairman of Tata Sons from 2012 to 2016

• Cyrus Mistry entered family business in 1991, became Shapoorji Pallonji Ltd director
• Took over his father’s place in the board of Tata Group after his retirement in 2006
• Rose to become Tata Sons chairman in 2012 at age 44
• As he held Irish passport, was 1st non-Indian to lead Tata Group
• Unceremoniously removed in Oct 2016 amid disagreements over running the group
• Last nail was his plan to shut down Nano car plant a year before Gujarat poll in 2017

The Mercedes car he was travelling in hit a culvert-cum-divider on a highway and then dashed against a retention wall. Besides Mistry, one more person travelling with him was killed, the police said.

A famous gynaecologist of Mumbai, Anahita Pandole (55), was driving the car. Primary information suggests the car was over-speeding and tried to overtake another vehicle from the wrong side, a police official said. Anahita and her husband Darius Pandole (60) survived the crash. Mistry and Jahangir Pandole, brother of Darius, were killed in the accident, which happened around 3 pm, about 120 km from Mumbai, the official said. Mistry and Jahangir were in the rear seats, he said.

Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said he had directed the police to conduct a detailed probe.

Mistry, who was already heading companies in the Shapoorji Pallonji Group when he was appointed to succeed Ratan Tata as the head of the over $100 billion salt-to-software Tata Group, was returning to Mumbai from Ahmedabad when the tragedy occurred on a bridge over the Surya river at Charoti Naka. He was battling two disappointments of late. His father Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, who once called the shots at Tata House, passed away in June. In May, the Supreme Court dismissed his final petition against his removal as the Tata Sons chairman in 2016.

NCP leader Supriya Sule, one of the few who stood by him during those tumultuous boardroom battles and backroom intrigues, was the first to mourn his death. “Devastating news. My brother Cyrus Mistry passed away. Can’t believe it,” she tweeted. Soon, led by PM Narendra Modi, political leaders and businesspeople tweeted their condolences.

“The untimely demise of Cyrus Mistry is shocking. He was a promising business leader who believed in India’s economic prowess,” said the PM. Little was known about Cyrus till a search committee decided he was best placed to fill the shoes of Ratan Tata when he reached the 75-year cap in 2012. The rule was once wielded to retire Tata Steel chief Russi Mod who did not have the Tata surname and could never head Tata Sons. But Mistry became the first chairman who was not a Tata, pipping Ratan’s half-brother Noel Tata who is married to his sister. Not much was known about him after he became the Tata Group chief either as Mistry did not give one interview. As he was nearing his fourth year as Tata Group chief, intrigues built up in the corridors of Bombay House. Amidst rumours that the last nail was his plan to shut down the Nano car plant a year before the Gujarat elections in 2017, the Tata Board removed him by a majority decision.

If Mistry’s father diversified their family firm’s construction business into specialty areas such as making the outer cladding of nuclear power units, his grandfather’s astute investments in Tata Sons in the 1930s saw their holding grow to 18.4 per cent, making the family the biggest single shareholder of the Tata Group.

While Mistry went back to his family businesses that were largely being helmed by his elder brother, he had a brief moment of vindication in 2019 when the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal reinstated him as the chairperson for Tata Sons. But the Supreme Court reversed the decision and then rejected his review plea this year.

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