Mistry’s big role

With the tragic loss of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry in a car accident on Sunday, we have lost a business leader who was once the torchbearer of professional management at India Inc. was seen as His family had long owned a minority stake in Tata, his father Pallonji Mistry, who died this June, became the “Phantom of Bombay House”. But his appointment to the top of the group was not a family heirloom. Nor did it stop Mistry from ousting him, against whom he had upheld the principal owners’ right to replace him before our apex court. Whether his tenure as the head of the Tata group transformed India’s most diverse conglomerate, however, is another matter. The revival of Tata’s fortunes after Mistry’s departure began with a high-level reset of the levers, but all but rusty. Nevertheless, the shake-up resulting from his run-up with the majority shareholders of Tata Sons arguably gave the group a good turn. Public glare given its lesser-known corporate governance issues and pressure on the Tata Group to bring together its strategic work has worked to the advantage of Bombay House. Cyrus Mistry deserves credit for this.