The Board of Directors of Tata Sons at its meeting on 23 November 2011 in Mumbai appointed Mr Cyrus P Mistry as Deputy Chairman to work with the present Chairman, Mr Ratan N Tata over the next year and take over from him as Chairman when Mr Tata retires in December 2012. The appointment was the unanimous recommendation of the Selection Committee.
Cyrus Mistry has been on the Board of Tata Sons since August 2006. Ratan Tata said: “….. I have been impressed with the quality and calibre of his participation, his astute observations and his humility. He is intelligent and qualified to take on the responsibility being offered and I will be committed to working with him over the next year to give him the exposure, the involvement and the operating experience to equip him to undertake the full responsibility of the Group on my retirement."
Cyrus Mistry is currently Managing Director, Shapoorji Pallonji Group. He is a graduate of Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London, and has a Master of Science in Management from the London Business School.
About the Tata Group
The Tata Group comprises over 100 operating companies in seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The group has operations in more than 80 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 85 countries. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $83.3bn (around Rs3.796750tr) in 2010-11, with 58% of this coming from business outside India.
The major Tata companies are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Indian Hotels, Tata Communications, Tata Teleservices and Titan.
Tata Steel includes the former Corus Group in UK and The Netherlands and Tata Motors included Jaguar/Landrover of UK.
Tata companies employ over 425000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics. Every Tata company or enterprise operates independently. Each of these companies has its own board of directors and shareholders, to whom it is answerable. There are 31 publicly listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market capitalisation of about $77.44bn (as on November 17, 2011), and a shareholder base of 4.3M.