Tata Sons and the Mystery of Mistry: Case

The board of Tata Sons shocked corporate India by sacking their chairperson, Cyrus Mistry, on 24 October 2016 (a little less than four years after he was made chairperson), and replacing him with his predecessor, Ratan Tata, as an interim chairperson. Other than government (state-owned) companies, most of the big companies in India are family-owned, and the families exercise control over the company through a large block holding kept within the family. ([9]) Mistry has alleged that he was reduced to being a "lame duck chairman", while Ratan Tata remained a towering figure influencing the decisions even during the board meetings, which forced him to circulate a corporate governance note 'in order to clarify the distinct roles of Tata Trusts, Tata Sons Board and the Boards of the operating companies' ([9]). After sacking Mistry from the chairpersonship of the Tata Sons board, they began proceedings to have him fired as chairperson from other Tata companies' boards too.