Who was Cyrus Mistry, and what led to his dismissal as Tata Group’s Chairman?
Who was Cyrus Mistry, and what led to his dismissal as Tata Group’s Chairman?
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Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, famously known as Cyrus Mistry was born on July 4, 1968, was an Indian businessman, belonging to a wealthy business family in Mumbai, he served as Chairman of the auto giant Tata Motors from the year 2012 to 2016. 

He was the youngest son of Pallonji Mistry, head of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Cyrus Mistry was the younger son of Pallonji Mistry, head of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a multifaceted corporation that had its roots in a 19th-century construction business founded by Pallonji Mistry's family. The Mistrys were wealthy businessmen and entrepreneurs who belonged to Mumbai's Parsi community and practised Zoroastrianism. They had been successful from the early days of colonialism. Before finishing his academic education in England, Cyrus attended the prestigious Cathedral and John Connon Schools in Mumbai. There, he earned a degree in civil engineering from Imperial College, London, and a master's in management from the London Business School. He joined the family business in 1991 and was appointed director of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd., its leading construction firm.

While their father continued to serve as chairman of the board of directors, their brother Shapoor oversaw the group's real estate operations. Additionally, Pallonji Mistry was on the board of the Tata Group, a similarly sized Mumbai-based corporation run by the Tatas, a well-known Parsi family.

Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. under Cyrus Mistry's leadership expanded beyond conventional construction during his two decades in charge, taking on significant technical projects including the construction of factories and power plants. The business expanded internationally as well, taking on more projects in the Middle East and Africa. Pallonji Mistry departed from the Tata Group board in 2006, and Cyrus Mistry, then 38, took his position. Pallonji Mistry was the conglomerate's single-largest stakeholder, and his son was appointed director of a number of Tata firms in addition to his responsibilities with the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. With the clear intent of taking over as chairman one year after Ratan Tata, who had led the business since 1991, retired, Cyrus Mistry was appointed deputy chairman of the Tata Group in November 2011.

Cyrus Mistry was lauded as the first non-Indian and just the second non-Tata to run the Tata Group in most of the Indian news media, but in reality, he was deeply ingrained in Mumbai society and had strong marriage ties to the Tatas. He had an Irish passport thanks to his mother, an Irish citizen of Indian descent whose sister was married to Pallonji Mistry's cousin and whose brother was an Indian shipping mogul. One of Cyrus Mistry's sisters wed Noel Tata, a well-known Tata Group executive who was Ratan Tata's half-brother. The boys of Cyrus Mistry and Iqbal Chagla, one of India's most renowned attorneys, started their education in 1992, the same year their father had in Mumbai

When Cyrus Mistry was appointed deputy chairman of the Tata Group, he resigned from Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Shapoor Mistry soon took over management of the whole Shapoorji Pallonji Group from his father. The hiring of Cyrus Mistry occurred amid a period of rapid growth for the Tata Group, which included more than 100 companies, including the Corus Group, a significant European steel producer, and the British automaker Jaguar Land Rover. He was responsible for restructuring the organization's structure, combining similar companies, and giving executive positions to capable people who might not be related to the Tata or Mistry dynasties.

He officially took Ratan Tata's place as chairman of the Tata Group in 2012. Mistry held the position of chairman till he was unceremoniously fired in October 2016. According to media outlets, the main cause of his dismissal was conflicts with the Tata family members regarding corporate strategy. Mistry contested the board's decision to remove him, charging them with poor management and victimising small shareholders. His petition was denied by India's National Company Law Tribunal in 2018, but the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal reversed that decision in 2019. The dismissal of Mistry was upheld by India's Supreme Court two years later.

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