Former Tata chairman Cyrus Mistry dies in road accident

Published September 5, 2022
Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry — Reuters/File
Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry — Reuters/File

MUMBAI: Cyrus Mistry, the 54-year-old former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, died in a road accident near financial capital Mumbai on Sunday, Indian police said.

Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $300-billion salt-to-software Tata conglomerate, in a boardroom coup in 2016, sparking a long-drawn-out legal tussle on which India’s top court eventually ruled in Tata Group’s favour.

The accident took place in Palghar, located about 100 kilometres north of Mumbai, on Sunday afternoon. Mistry was travelling to Mumbai from Gujarat with three others, B. Patil, the top police official in Palghar district, said.

A senior Mumbai police official said the car in which Mistry was travelling had rammed into a divider, and that he had died at the accident site.

Several prominent politicians and industrialists tweeted their condolences after news of Mistry’s passing was reported. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Mistry’s demise untimely and shocking.

“He was a promising business leader who believed in India’s economic prowess. His passing away is a big loss to the world of commerce and industry,” Modi tweeted.

Mistry’s family and Tata Sons did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Mistry was the sixth chairman of the Tata group, a conglomerate started over 150 years ago, and the second not named Tata. He was the brother-in-law of Noel Tata, half-brother of Mistry’s predecessor as chair Ratan Tata.

Mistry’s grandfather first bought shares in Tata Sons in the 1930s. The Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group, founded by Mistry’s father, currently holds a near 18pc stake, making it the largest single shareholder in a firm mostly controlled by trusts.

The decades-long relationship between SP Group, one of the country’s largest construction firms, and Tata Group was strained following his sacking, and SP Group has since been looking to “separate its interests” from Tata Sons.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.