Former Tata Sons chairman dies in car accident

Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Tata Sons, the holdings company of Tata Group of India, was killed in a road accident on Sunday. He was 54.

Mistry was one of two people who died when the car they were traveling in hit a barrier between two lanes on a road in Palghar, near Mumbai, according to police. The police are still investigating, but the crash seemed to have occurred as the car was speeding up to pass another car.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Mistry’s demise untimely and shocking. “He was a promising business leader who believed in India’s economic prowess,” Modi tweeted. “His passing away is a big loss to the world of commerce and industry.”

Tata group is the largest Indian conglomerate with over 100 subsidiaries in seven business areas, which include automobile, steel, hotel, and software, generating sales of 130 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Mistry was from Shapoorji Pallonji, another conglomerates group in India. He became chairman of Tata Sons in 2012, for the second time in the company’s history to have a non-Tata family as the leader. However, Mistry was dismissed from the position by the board of directors in the same year on the ground of poor business performances. He filed a suit against the decision claiming unfair dismissal, but lost the legal dispute last year.

His death is raising awareness on the high level of car related death in India. Last year alone, 150,000 people lost their lives on the road of India. This translates into 18 people’s death per hour.


Sung-Hwi Kang yolo@donga.com