Tata-Mystery Effect- Independent Directors are in Focus

The role of independent directors comes into sharp focus as the Tata-Mistry spat spills over to group firms.

- Sourav Majumdar with Aveek Datta and Samar Srivastava

It is shaping up into a fight to the finish. Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, the 48-year-old former chairman of Tata Sons, appears to be ready to take his battle against Ratan Tata, 78, and Tata Sons, from where he was ousted unceremoniously on October 24, to its logical conclusion. Mistry, whose family owns an 18.4 percent stake in Tata Sons, is undaunted even in the face of the value erosion which Tata group companies have been facing ever since the bruising face-off began.

“Cyrus believes what is happening is catharsis. If there is value erosion in the process, he is willing to take the hit because his family’s fortunes aren’t solely dependent on the holding in Tata Sons,” says a source close to Mistry.

While the initial exchange of fire between the two sides was restricted to the group level and to Tata Sons, it has now spread to group companies, with the focus sharply on the role— read independence—of independent directors including Ratan Tata’s old friend-turned-foe and Bombay Dyeing patriarch Nusli Neville Wadia.

On November 15, a bizarre drama played out at the board meeting of Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL), where the company’s second quarter results signed by Mistry were released to the exchanges at 6.02 pm and another statement replacing him as chairman reached the exchanges at 6.12 pm. Mistry was replaced by Tata loyalist Harish Bhat, who also has been given an important role in the group (including that of custodian of the Tata brand) in a recent round of restructuring following Mistry’s ouster as Tata Sons chairman.