Tata Sons removes Cyrus Mistry; Appoints Ratan N Tata as interim chairman

Tata Sons has announced that its board has replaced Cyrus P. Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons and named Ratan N. Tata as its interim chairman.

 The decision was taken at a board meeting. The board has constituted a selection committee to choose a new chairman. The committee comprises of Ratan N. Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra, Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, as per the criteria laid down in the Articles of Association of Tata Sons. The committee has been mandated to complete the selection process in four months.

Tata Sons is the promoter of the major operating Tata companies and holds significant shareholdings in these companies. Tata companies are commonly referred to as the Tata group and the chairman of Tata Sons as chairman of the Tata group. About 66 per cent of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The largest of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the families of the sons of Jamsetji Tata, the founder.

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising over 100 independent operating companies. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission “To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust”.

In 2015-16, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $103 billion. These companies collectively employ over 660,000 people. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors and shareholders. There are 29 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalization of about $116 billion (as on March 31, 2016).

Tata companies with significant scale include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Tata Communications and Indian Hotels.