MUMBAI: Till his appointment as the chairman to lead Tata Sons, not many knew of Cyrus Mistry, who was then associated only with his family business.
A south Mumbai low-profile boy, 44-year-old Mistry family scion was already heading companies in the Shapoorji Pallonji Group when he was appointed to succeed Ratan Tata as the head of the over $100 billion, salt-to-software Tata group. According to reports, he was reluctant to take up the job but some persuasion, including by Ratan Tata himself, led him to accept the offer.
After four years at the helm, he was replaced in a boardroom coup in October 2016, which saw Ratan Tata coming back to helm the group before the reigns were passed on to N. Chandrasekhar.
During his time at the helm of Tata Group, Mistry depended on a specially created group executive council (GEC) consisting of handpicked executives from within Tata Group, industry executives and also academia to drive operations. He was termed as a studious backroom executive who had a sharp mind.
A naturally reclusive nature and a conviction for the work to do the talking meant there was very little known about Mistry even during his time at the helm. He did not do a single media interview from Bombay House.
