Condolences pour in for Mistry

Chennai/Mumbai: The demise of former Tata chairman Cyrus Mistry in a car accident was mourned by leading personalities in the country, including politicians and industrialists.
"The untimely demise of Shri Cyrus Mistry is shocking. He was a promising business leader who believed in India's economic prowess. His passing away is a big loss to the world of commerce and industry," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed her shock and tweeted: "Shri Cyrus Mistry's death comes as a shock. He was committed to carrying forward and strengthening his business in infra and infra projects. He desired to keep contributing to India's economic progress".

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi took to twitter and said, "Saddened by the tragic news of the demise of former Chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry. He was amongst the brightest business minds of the country, who made a significant contribution to India's growth story."

N. Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons, said, "I am deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely demise of #CyrusMistry. He had a passion for life, and it is really tragic that he passed away at such a young age."

Billionaire Gautam Adani said Mistry was one of the finest gentlemen known to him. "Shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Cyrus Mistry. One of the finest gentlemen I have known, he was one of the best business minds of his generation."

Industrialist Harsh Goenka and Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra were among the first to take to twitter to express condolences. "So sad to hear of the shocking news of the passing away of #CyrusMistry in an accident. He was a friend, a gentleman, a man of substance. He was instrumental in creating the global construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji and ably led the Tata group," Goenka wrote.

"Hard to digest this news. I got to know Cyrus well during his all-too-brief tenure as the head of the House of Tata. I was convinced he was destined for greatness. If life had other plans for him, so be it, but life itself should not have been snatched away from him," said Mahindra.

Financial czars remembered him as a very courteous, genuine and reserved person. Arundhati Bhatta-charya, former chairman at State Bank of India, said, "This is really shocking, extremely shocking…He was a thorough gentleman, so courteous. He was a good person with a great brain for business. It's indeed a loss for our nation that he passed away so quickly and suddenly."

Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and CEO of HDFC Ltd, said, "It's absolutely shocking. I knew him for more than 10 years now. He was an outstanding human being. A very good businessman, who was focused on every aspect of the business, a genuinely good human being. He was an understated kind of person. You would not have seen him at parties or at social gatherings as he was a very reserved person but he had some very close friends with whom he enjoyed a very good relationship and Pandole, who too passed away in the unfortunate accident, was one of them."

D. Subbarao, former RBI governor, said, "I knew Cyrus Mistry well. He attended several meetings in the RBI when I was governor. He always came across as intelligent and insightful. A man of endearing courtesy and gentleness. It's unfortunate that he's gone away so soon."

J.N. Gupta, former executive director of Sebi, said, "It's most unfortunate and sad that a bright person is gone. My heartfelt condolences to the family."