John Elliott, the author of Implosion: India's Tryst with Reality, on his Riding the Elephant blog, says the sacking of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata and Sons was in line with Ratan Tata's personal style of dealing with executives
Few people know Ratan Tata as well as R K Krishna Kumar does. Widely perceived to be among the managers closest to Tata, Krishna Kumar assesses Ratan Tata, the man and business leader, in this exclusive interview to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'Wherever the businesses are not up to the size of the Tata group, Cyrus Mistry initiated actions to move out of those businesses.'
Cyrus Mistry had put in place a strategy that would have pulled most of the Tata group's 'legacy hotspots' out of the financial mess from legacy issues and helped turn around the group's finances.
Cyrus Mistry undertook quite a few significant initiatives at the Tata Group in the past two years.
Fourteen per cent of the $16 billion invested by Ratan Tata in M&As abroad has been written off by his successor.
'Tata Steel has doubled, Tata Motors has more than doubled, and Tata Chemicals too has more than doubled.' 'So, Cyrus Mistry was getting accepted by the market for bringing in the change that was good for the group companies.'
Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals under investor watch
'Cyrus was always very different. He would think before acting.'
'The competition between the two is definitely going to be of great interest to the Indian market.'
A financial turnaround in Tata Steel and Tata Motors has come as a shot in the arm for Chandra.
After years of losing money on two of the group's biggest bets - global steel business and domestic passenger cars - there are strong signs of a revival in both businesses.
The multi-brand strategy could drive profitability to a 25% profit margin in the next five years from 17% now.
Famous and long believed to be trusted Indian brands have wilted against foreign brands, says Mohan Guruswamy.
On Mody's death, Tata on Friday said, "Russi Mody was an institution at Tata Steel. Under his leadership, the company grew significantly and he instituted many human resource initiatives.
TCS still ace in the pack
Ratan N Tata, chairman, Tata Sons, and chairman, Indian Hotels Co Ltd said that the terrible wanton attacks on Wednesday night on innocent people and the destruction of prominent landmarks in India deserve to be universally condemned.
Here's a look at how key Tata group companies fared under Cyrus Mistry's stewardship.
In the domestic market, the Tata Group has lost ground in the passenger car business.
The Parsi community runs India's respected corporate houses like the Tata, Wadia and Godrej groups.
Former Trai chief lashes out on CBI, ministers in 2G scam
The Tata empire turns 150 this year. R Gopalakrishnan, former director, Tata Sons Ltd, imagines a conversation among the group's founder Jamsetji, his son Dorabji, his successor, Nowroji Saklatwala, and his successor, J R D Tata.
Age and experience not less relevant but firms are gradually moving towards younger leadership teams
A look at the life and times of maverick businessman Chinnakannan Sivasankaran
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances