Topline
Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons and the son of deceased billionaire business giant Pallonji Mistry, died in a car accident Sunday during a trip to Mumbai, six years after the 54-year-old was dramatically ousted from Tata Sons’ helm.
Tata Group chair Cyrus Mistry speaks during the annual meeting of Tata Consultancy Services in … [+]
Key Facts
Mistry was killed while passing through Palghar, located about 60 miles north of Mumbai, India’s financial center, officials in the Indian state of Maharashtra said Sunday.
A police official told Reuters that Mistry died at the scene of the accident after his car crashed into a road divider.
Three others were in the car, police told Reuters and the BBC, one of whom was killed while the other two were injured.
Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister has ordered police to investigate the accident.
Key Background
Mistry’s father controlled the 156-year-old family business, Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a engineering and construction giant based in Mumbai. The senior Mistry died in June at age 93 and was worth about $15 billion the year he died, Forbes estimates. Most of the Mistry family’s fortune came from holding the largest minority stake in Tata Sons, the holding company for India’s largest conglomerate, the Tata Group. In 2012, Cyrus Mistry was appointed chairman of Tata Sons, becoming one of the only top officials of the company who was not a member of the Tata family. However, Mistry was ousted in 2016 in a messy boardroom coup after facing criticism for his performance, which resulted in a yearslong feud between two of India’s most powerful business families. The Indian Supreme Court ruled in Tata Group’s favor earlier this year and refused to review an earlier legal decision that upheld Mistry’s removal as chairman. Mistry had Irish citizenship through his mother, and is survived by his wife and two sons.
Tangent
Indian officials and business tycoons took to social media to share their reactions to the news of Mistry’s death and to offer their condolences. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his sudden death was “shocking,” and called Mistry “a promising business leader who believed in India’s economic prowess.”
Further Reading
Billionaire Pallonji Mistry, Indian Construction Pioneer, Dies At 93 (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/09/04/chair-of-indian-industrial-giant-tata-sons-dies-in-car-accident/