CYRUS MISTRY WALKS THE TALK

By giving up his claim to the Tata top job, Mistry gives primacy to governance over quest for power.

- Aveek Datta

BY MAKING IT CLEAR that he has no interest in returning as chairman of the Tata group, Cyrus Mistry may have gained an edge (at least by way of perception) in the corporate battle that he is engaged in with the salt-to-software group and its promoters. Mistry’s family has an 18.4% stake in the group.

In a statement issued on January 5, Mistry clarified: “To dispel the misinformation campaign being conducted, I intend to make it clear that despite the NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) order in my favor, I will not be pursuing the executive chairmanship of Tata Sons, or directorships of TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Tata Teleservices, or Tata Industries.”

On December 18, 2019, the NCLAT overturned an earlier judgment passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal and held that Mistry’s removal as chairman of Tata Sons, the flagship holding company of the $110-billion group, was illegal; as was his removal as director of the three aforementioned group companies that are listed. The NCLAT judgment observed that the board of Tata Sons, the Tata Trusts (that collectively own 66% of Tata Sons), and its trustees (including Tata Sons’ former chairman Ratan Tata) had acted in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the minority shareholders of the group, which includes the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, whose patriarch Pallonji Mistry is Cyrus Mistry’s father.