The Tata-Mistry Battle Continuous

The Tata-Mistry battle has now percolated down to the boardrooms of group companies, portending mayhem.

- C.H.Unnikrishnan

The Mistry have been a trusted partner for the Tatas, building several castles for the group over a century and a half, of which many became landmarks of the vast Tata business empire. As the group rose to a pinnacle to count among the largest industrial conglomerates in the country and among the most respected corporate brands globally, the relationship between the two business families also bonded more strongly.

Ever since the Mistrys bought F.E. Dinshaw and Co., the first finance dealer for Tisco (now Tata Steel) and a key stakeholder in the Tata group in 1936, this bonding only consolidated in multifarious ways, culminating in a Mistry scion being ceremoniously given the baton of the $100 billion Tata group in 2012. The metaphorical castle that evolved from this long-standing relationship, began to crumble though, with Cyrus Mistry’s mysterious ouster as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016.

The public spat that erupted from the warring quarters of the Tatas and the Mistrys only confounded industry and analysts about the true bone of contention. The sequence of events of the last four weeks have thrown up several issues to the forefront, however, ranging from simple ego tussles to more serious issues of shareholder interest and corporate governance.

The split is now wide open − among not only board members, especially independent directors of Tata Sons − but also group companies. The Tatas have now moved to the next course of action, to remove not just Cyrus Mistry, but also some “hostile” independent directors from the boards of key group companies.