 "In this file photo of Cyrus Mistry whom Tata Sons on Monday removed as its Chairman, nearly 4 years after he took over the reins of the group.")
The 78-year-old Indian businessman Ratan Tata has written a letter, on Monday, to the employees of Tata Group, informing them that ‘in the interest of the stability of and reassurance to the India's largest conglomerate,’ he is returning as chairman.
In a surprise move, Tata Sons said its board has removed Cyrus Pallonji Mistry as chairman of the conglomerate and named Ratan Tata as interim chairman for four months.
Ratan Tata had been chairman from 1991 till his retirement on December 28, 2012 and Cyrus Mistry had become the sixth chairman of the Tata Group.
Mistry will remain an independent director on the board of Tata Sons – a position he held before he became chairman. But he will have to quit as chairman of all group companies, according to the media reports.
"The Board has requested me to perform the role of the Chairman and I have agreed to do so in the interest and reassurance of the Tata group," Ratan Tata said in the letter.
"A new management structure is being put in place and a selection committee has been constituted to identify the next chairman of Tata sons," Ratan Tata added in the letter. A committee has been given four months to find the new chairman.
The company’s move gets a mixed response on Twitter.
Even as the Tata group was tight-lipped on the reason for Mistry’s removal, #CyrusMistry was the top Twitter trend at 7 pm.
Some among the Twitterati have chosen to take a dig at the interim CEO Ratan Tata, who had expressed concern over the growing intolerance in the country, during his address at the 119th foundation day function of Scindia School in Gwalior on 22 October.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife within the industry that the move has been inspired because of the dipping revenues of the company.
A brief statement by the company did not give any reasons for Cyrus Mistry’s ouster, though sources close to the development said it was because of ‘performance’ issues and the issue has been brewing for some time. The turnover of the group dropped to $103 billion in the current financial year from $108 billion the previous year.
Others think that Tata's controversial settlement with Japanese telecom operator NTT Docomo was one of the major reasons why the string was finally pulled by the Board members.
