Cyrus Pallonji Mistry

Life & Legacy

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry (4 July 1968 – 4 September 2022) was an Irish businessman. He was the chairman of the Tata Group, an Indian business conglomerate, from 2012 to 2016. He was the sixth chairman of the group, and only the second (after Nowroji Saklatwala) not to bear the surname Tata. In mid-2012, he was chosen by a selection panel to head the Tata Group and took charge in December that year. In October 2016, the board of Tata Group's holding company, Tata Sons, voted to remove Mistry from the post of chairman. Former chairman Ratan Tata then returned as interim chairman, and Natarajan Chandrasekaran was named as the new chairman a few months later. However, in December 2019, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) declared the appointment of Chandrasekaran as executive chairman illegal, and restored Mistry. However, the Supreme Court stayed NCLAT's order on 10 January 2020. Mistry had filed a cross-appeal in the court, seeking explanations for anomalies in the NCLAT. However, the Supreme Court upheld his dismissal.
He owned an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, through his company, Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mistry had a net worth of nearly $29 billion at the time of his death, making him one of the richest men in India. He was a member of the National Integration Council. He died in a road crash on 4 September 2022 on the Ahmedabad–Mumbai highway. Bad road design near the bridge at the spot of the crash and occupants not wearing seat belts were cited by the forensic investigation team as the cause of the crash.