Former Tata Sons chair Cyrus Mistry dies in road accident

By Rupam Jain

MUMBAI (Reuters) -Cyrus Mistry, the 54-year-old former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, died in a highway accident close to monetary capital Mumbai on Sunday, Indian police stated.

Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding firm of the $300-billion salt-to-software Tata conglomerate, in a boardroom coup in 2016, sparking a long-drawn-out authorized tussle on which India’s high court docket ultimately dominated in Tata Group’s favour.

The accident happened in Palghar, positioned about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Mumbai, on Sunday afternoon. Mistry was travelling to Mumbai from Gujarat with three others, B. Patil, the highest police official in Palghar district, stated.

A senior Mumbai police official stated the automobile during which Mistry was travelling had rammed right into a divider, and that he had died on the accident website.

A number of distinguished politicians and industrialists tweeted their condolences after information of Mistry’s passing was reported. Prime Minister Narendra Modi known as Mistry’s demise premature and surprising.

“He was a promising enterprise chief who believed in India’s financial prowess. His passing away is a giant loss to the world of commerce and trade,” Modi tweeted.

Mistry’s household and Tata Sons didn’t instantly reply to a request looking for remark.

Tata Consultancy Providers, during which Tata Sons owns a majority stake, stated it was mourning the premature demise of its former chairman, including that the corporate was providing its “deepest condolences and prayers” to his household and buddies.

“He was a heat, pleasant, and congenial one who constructed a powerful relationship with the TCS household throughout his time because the chairman of the corporate,” TCS stated in a press release.

Mistry was the sixth chairman of the Tata group, a conglomerate began over 150 years in the past, 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 purchased shares in Tata Sons within the Nineteen Thirties. The Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group, based by Mistry’s father, at the moment holds a close to 18% stake, making it the most important single shareholder in a agency largely managed by trusts.

The decades-long relationship between SP Group, one of many nation’s largest development companies, and Tata Group was strained following his sacking, and SP Group has since been trying to “separate its pursuits” from Tata Sons.

Fund managers Reuters spoke to on the time of Mistry’s appointment described him as little-known in enterprise circles.

A graduate in civil engineering from London’s Imperial Faculty and in administration from the London Enterprise Faculty, Mistry described himself as a voracious reader of enterprise books and golfer, and shared his household’s love of horses.

SP Group didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests looking for touch upon Mistry’s loss of life.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain; Further reporting by Nallur Sethuraman; Writing by Sudarshan Varadhan; Enhancing by Frances Kerry and Jan Harvey)