Cyrus Mistry out, Ratan Tata back as interim chairman of Tata Sons in surprise development

Tata Sons gave no reason for sacking the 48-year-old Cyrus Mistry.

In a shocking development, Tata Sons has announced that it has removed Cyrus P. Mistry as chairman of the salt-to-software conglomerate. The decision to remove Mistry was taken at a board meeting in Mumbai on Friday, the company said. Ratan Tata, whom Mistry had succeeded, has been called back to be interim chairman.

Tata Sons has not said why it removed Mistry, who had been at the helm of the $108 billion
group, India's most prominent and reputed industrial brand, for close to four years.

The board has constituted a selection committee to choose a new chairman. The committee comprises Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra, former foreign secretary Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, as per the criteria in the Articles of Association of Tata Sons.

The committee has been mandated to complete the selection process in four months.

Irish-Indian Cyrus Mistry, 48, is the youngest son of construction magnate Pallonji Mistry, who by virtue of his 18.5 percent share of Tata Sons is the largest single share-holder in the firm that's otherwise mostly controlled by trusts. Cyrus Mistry was also only the second chairman of the group from outside the Tata family.

Ratan Tata, 78, was chairman of Tata Sons for 20 years, and is regularly in the news these days over his investments in start-ups. He will be at the helm for the next four months, by which time the selection committee is to find the new chairman.