“Cyrus Mistry’s British education blinded me. I naively thought that someone with such a great education would have a different DNA,” Ratan Tata says of Mistry at the head of the Tata empire. I commented on why I chose it. He also regrets giving the committee to select his successor an ultimatum to resign on December 28, 2012, which puts unavoidable pressure on the committee and He said the main reason was that he “acted rashly.” ” So Mistry was chosen. Ratan Tata also regretted staying away from the selection process, admitting that he had been “very idealistic” in his approach to selection.
These revelations and more are part of Ratan Tata: A Life by Thomas Mathew, a biography of businessman Ratan Tata, released on Friday by HarperCollins India.
The authorized biography was reportedly acquired by HarperCollins in 2022 for 2 billion yen, an unprecedented amount for a non-fiction work. The author, Thomas Mathew, is a former bureaucrat and director of several of India’s largest companies.
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The book describes how Mr Mistry’s appointment was “circumstantial”, that he was chosen after the selection committee failed to narrow down suitable candidates, and that he was a “key success factor in the management of the Tata Group”. The company explained that the final selection was made after reviewing papers submitted by Mr. Mistry. We plan to conduct an interview and select him for the chairman’s post.
However, things quickly began to unravel, and the book reveals that Ratan Tata was uneasy about Mistry’s decisions as chairman, as he felt it would damage the group’s clean image and reputation for fair play. It became. The book details how there were concerns that “bribes and corruption” could cause problems for the Tata name as Mistry steered the group into businesses outside its core areas such as infrastructure. Explaining. When the Japanese company won a $1.17 billion award for the failed Docomo venture and Tata refused to pay, the author records that Ratan Tata said: Please run it. ”
When N. Chandrasekaran took over as chairman in 2017, one of the first things Ratan Tata did was go to Singapore and meet with Docomo’s president before paying him $1.17 billion. Ta.
The seeds of dissatisfaction with Mistry were sown when he stopped consulting Tata Trusts on important decisions. The author notes that Ratan Tata said Tata Power’s acquisition of Welspun’s alternative energy assets for $1.45 billion without approval from the Tata Sons board was a “real firestorm.” are. Ratan Tata also admitted that he had “mistaked Mistry’s approach to business”.
The book records the comments of several Tata veterans on Mistry’s modus operandi, including Chandrasekaran, who describes Mistry’s Group Executive Council (GEC), which is made up of relatively young people, as a “retired veteran. We cannot ignore our military personnel.” R. Mukundan, MD of Tata Chemicals, said, “Wisdom that comes with experience is more sustainable,” while NP Sinha, former vice president of Tata Steel, said, “I would not have appointed him (Mr. Mistry).” “I guess so,” he said frankly.
However, the book notes that Mistry’s dismissal was not a decision taken in haste. Ratan Tata assigned Nitin Nohria, dean of Harvard Business School, who is part of Tata Sons’ board, to support Mistry, saying: It will help him (Mistry) succeed. ” But soon rumors began to circulate that Ratan Tata was interfering in Mistry’s work and “suppressing the new chairman’s performance.” Ratan Tata initially addressed the issue internally, but relations between the two parties soured and the group’s performance declined. The decision to sack Mistry was taken in October 2016, but Ratan Tata knew he would be “misunderstood” and criticized and that the move would damage his reputation, the authors write. .
