When India's most legendary business group announced its successor, it led to a divided opinion: debates broke out over the appointment of the low key Cyrus Mistry as the Chairman designate of the house of Tata's. Is he the perfect dark horse? Or does he, who runs the family's construction firm lack the experience to run a global conglomerate? Has his selection set a new benchmark of transparent succession in corporate India, or has it reinforced the power of family control? Mumbai: The search that propelled Cyrus Mistry into the public gaze was when he made the journey from his home in Mumbai's Malabar Hills to his new place of work, actually began more than a year ago.
He was at that time part of hunt, a member of the search committee whose composition was laid down in the Tata's rule book.
Of its 5 members, two were meant to represent Tata Sons - the groups holding company. Those were Tata veteran Krishna Kumar and Cyrus Mistry himself. N.A Soonawalla and Shirin Bharucha represented the two slots alloted to the Tata charitable Trusts which hold a majority share of Tata Sons while the sole independent member was Lord Kumar Bhattacharya, associated with Warwick University in England and said to be close to Ratan Tata.
In November 2010, 5 months after the search had begun Ratan Tata told NDTV that he was keeping arms length from the process.
He told NDTV, "The search is on. I'm not on the committee. I consciously decided to stay away from it. And this is something that is going to emerge through a list of people, whom they would look at. And I keep saying, let them come forward with something, lets not prejudge."
The Tatas were keen to underline how benchmark systems had been put in place since the time Ratan was selected by his uncle JRD Tata in 1991.
Tata historian, RM Lala says, "He may have consulted one or two people but there wasn't any selection committee."
A decision that prompted a public challenge by contenders like Russi Mody of Tata Steel and Nani Palkhivala who headed the Tata's cement division ACC.
Lala says, "I asked JRD why did you appoint Ratan? Was it because of his integrity? He said no you can't say that because that means the others don't have it. The other contenders were Russi Mody and Nani Palkhivala. He kept quiet for a while and said quietly Ratan will be more like me."
But despite modernising the search process, by May of 2011, the informal deadline set by the committee, it was still struggling to find a successor. This despite running through a roster of international heavyweights like Anshu Jain, the Indian born head of Corporate and Investment, Deutsche Bank and Arun Sarin, former CEO of Vodafone.
Indira Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico it turned out, was not a candidate, since it was felt that she headed a one -brand company, as opposed to the Tata's a conglomerate.
Closer home almost all Tata veterans were interviewed and rejected including, Ishaat Hussain, Finance Director, Tata Sons, S Ramadorai, Vice Chairman of TCS and R.Gopalakrishnan, Director at Tata Sons and someone considered a key front runner: Noel Tata, the half brother of Ratan Tata, and the current head of Tata Trent until Mr Tata himself ruled Noel out in an interview to the British press.
Which is why when the name of Cyrus Mistry was revealed almost 6 months after the informal deadline it surprised India and the world.
James Fontanella-Khan, India correspondent for Financial Times says, "The question most people have in their minds is who is this guy? We have never heard of him internationally, obviously in Bombay his family is one of an important one yes. It is like who is this guy and everybody was expecting, some people fantasized that it could be Indra Nooyi or Vikram Pandit, famous Indians abroad who could have taken this job. Most people had settled that Noel Tata was the obvious candidate, Ratan's half-brother, then Cyrus Mistry. That came out of the blue."
Sources have told us that the turning point came in June this year, when as art of the expanded mandate of the selection committee to map future strategy, Cyrus made a presentation on the road - a presentation that made the selectors, who were running out of time and options realised that the best person for the job may well be sitting in their midst.
On the record, the Tata's have pointed to Ratan Tata's statement that he was impressed with Cyrus's humility and his interventions in Board meetings, a statement meant to explain how a relatively unknown contender had beaten some of the biggest names in the corporate world.
Much was made of the fact that Cyrus is the first non-Tata to head the company. Since the time of Jamsetji Tata, the group has always been run by a Tata: Jamsetji's son Dorab, his nephew Nowrohi Saklatvala, grandnephew JRD, and finally JRD's nephew - Ratan.
But Cyrus, many argue, is hardly an outsider.
Former Chairman of J&K Bank, Haseeb Drabu says, "It seems very obvious that the two main contendors on the list were Mr Mistry and Noel Tata. Both happen to be related to Pallonji, one is the son and the other son-in-law. So you can't expect people to take this at face value, that a global search was done and then you have this. There obviously was a little element of this. That's why I said Tata's position themselves differently. I don't see anything wrong with it. I think it's a very good decision when you look at it in the context of how companies operate in India....but to position it differently, do a global search, have people who are globally recognised chief executives and then sit on this choice. It could have probably done it in a more informal manner. It could have been a
simple Board choice."
He belongs to the Shapoorji family, who own an 18% stake in Tatasons. A stake which ensures a place on the Tatasons board, held by Pallonji Mistry, replaced by Cyrus, six years ago.
Cyrus' sister, Aloo, is married to Noel Tata - Ratan Tata's half-brother and himself a lead candidate.
James says, "Cyrus Mistry is no outsider. I mean he is very much entrenched into that kind of Tata family group, an extended family which is a member of the Parsi community."
Shirin Bharucha, a member of the Selection Committee tells us how it took 15 months to find a replacement for Mr Tata, "It's big shoes to fill."
The only member of the selection committee who agreed to be interviewed on TV, she strongly rejected claims of nepotism.
Shirin says, "See Bombay and Parsi did not weigh with us, I'll tell you that. It had to be the most appropriate person and of course a person who would grow into the job, into the status, into the position as did Mr Tata in his time."
The only thing that was a little bit of a question mark was that Cyrus went from being a member of the committee to a candidate.
She says, "I really shouldn't be saying this. You should ask the committee as a whole but I will ask you a question in turn. If you found a most suitable person in your committee, would you omit him because he was in the committee? Tell me that. I think the qualities, qualifications of the candidate must be paramount and excluding him because he was part of the committee, happened to be part of the committee, is not a reason disqualify him."
While Cyrus' pedigree hardly entails his being described as an outside candidate, those who are familiar with the Shapoorji Pallonji construction business - which Cyrus heads along with his brother Shapoor, underline his quiet competence and a corporate culture that closely resembles the Tata's.
Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC Bank says, "A Parsi, a Bombay boy, everything fitted in well. And apart from that I have seen him personally. Pallonji for HDFC is one of the largest exposure because they are in construction, they are in real estate, they build buildings, homes, colonies, so they are our clients for 20 years. I have seen personally in the last 20 years both the brothers grow to size and stature. How Cyrus and Shapoor have their heads on their shoulder. One looks at the real estate and other looks at the construction aspects. They are quite a diversified group, have brought 2-3 companies. They are in consumer business, they do this water coolers, they bought Afcons. They have a fair number of companies."
They point to how the leadership of Cyrus was key in the company's steadily rising profits and global ambition.
One of India's biggest architects, Hafeez Contractor, who has designed several Pallonji buildings say they have managed to avoid the dubious aspects of real estate market.
He says, "I would say they are absolutely above board and completely clean and down to earth. I don't think anybody can point a finger at them."
It's reputation dates back to the early part of the century, when the Mistry family were hired to construct virtually every single major Mumbai landmark.
Early works included classic South Bombay apartment buildings like Dhanraj Mahal at the Gateway of India commissioned by a former princely state, public buildings like the Bombay Central train terminus, later the RBI building, the HSBC building and the state bank of India at fort as well as projects for the Tata's like the NCPA auditorium at Nariman Point.
Today SPCL has moved from contractors to builders and are behind some of the city's newest landmarks, like the residential Imperial Towers in central Mumbai which also happens to be the tallest building in India.
And many others that are altering the Mumbai skyline.
All of which have made them a $3 billion company - the full worth of their holdings unclear given their closed nature.
Dinhsaw Mehta, President of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat says, "As far as the Shapoorji Pallonji family is concerned, they are the numero uno family of the Parsi community."
At the office's of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat, the guardians of a shrinking community, say that the Mistry family has used some of its fabled wealth for charity work.
Mehta says, "He has been doing a lot of work. At the moment he has constructed an old folks home around Warden road. Even for us he gave Rs 50 lakh for the Panchayat when we established the venture fund, which we started for Parsis to start new ventures. He's got the widows chawl at Dadar Parsi colony, at fort market and various other things."
There is no hesitation in their take on Cyrus's elevation, "Cyrus now coming to the helm of the Tata's is a great honour for us as we thought the Tata enterprise would go away from the Parsi nomenclature. But thankfully a Parsi is heading it. We are thinking of felicitating him at a Cusrow Baug function, but its still early...one more year to go. Let's see. Once he takes over we'll definitely felicitate."
Supriya Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar, and one of Cyrus' few close friends says he has squirmed at the public attention.
She says, "I have known Cyrus and Ruhiqa for over 10 years now. I think the most hilarious incident happened when one day Cyrus, Ruhiqa, my husband Sadanand and me went to Taj Hotel for dinner. As we came out of dinner a couple of hours later, nobody had realised that it was the Cyrus Mistry, owner of the hotel and probably the largest shareholder. Cyrus and me were walking ahead with Sadanand and Ruhiqa behind us when the General manager came chasing them. We were wondering what happened because we had paid the bill. The next thing we knew was the manager giving Sadanand a bottle of champagne saying sorry Mr Mistry we didn't know you were in the hotel. Cyrus and me just cracked up watching this and Sadanand had to tell them three times that I am not Mr Mistry, that gentleman is. That was definitely the most memorable incident, I have never seen such simplicity and humility."
A Parsi boy from South Bombay, the right pedigree, the right schools, low key but driven and suddenly it is not difficult to imagine Cyrus Mistry as a younger Ratan Tata and suddenly the choice doesn't seem that far-fetched.
When one hears the description often, it may be possible that Mr Tata saw a bit of himself in Cyrus.
Parekh says, "I would not be surprised if that pushed him or convinced him that this could be the right candidate."
While many say Ratan Tata too was a novice when he took charge, the Tatas today face a new set of challenges in a globalised economy - can Cyrus Mistry live up to it?
The change of guard at Tata Sons has come at a time when the group is grappling with the consequences of a decade of phenomenal global expansion during the Ratan Tata era while back home is an empire, vast in sprawl but uneven in performance, where some of its companies do exceptionally well and others struggle to balance their books.
Prashant Nair, Markets Editor at NDTV Profit explains to us, the anomaly of the Tata group. Its a very large group of more than 100 companies, they make almost $83 billion in revenue. But profits are not proportionate as they only make about $ 6 billion on profits because very few companies are actually doing well and that's reflected in their stock market performances as well.
Tata Group:
Total revenue: $ 83 billion
Profits: $ 6 billion
Of approximately 120 companies, only around 5 contribute to profits.
Prashant says, "We just did a quick check in for investors. If you brought 1 stock of each of this companies when Mr Ratan Tata took over as chairman in 1991. 20 years back if you got 1 stock of the Tata Steel, Motors, TCS, what were returns like. The data according to me is stunning because it tells you for all the hype you were basically better off buying a mutual fund, a passively managed mutual fund which was index to the Sensex, so Sensex compounded returns since 1991 is 13%. To put it simply, if you bought 1 Sensex it would have given you 13% compounded for the last 20 years. Tata Power gave you from the time of listing - 7.5 %, below the Sensex. Tata Steel would give 9% again below 1 stock in Sensex while Tata Motors is 11%, again below what the Sensex would have returned."
For comparison with another automobile company, we take a look at Tata Motors vis-a-vis, Mahindra which actually did much better.
Prashant explains,"Mahindra and Mahindra compounded returns from the time of listing is 22%. One name in the Tata group company which has done better is TCS but TCS only came to the market in 2004. So TCS is actually giving you 20%, but when compared to someone like Infosys listed in 1993, the annual CAGR is 50%."
One of BSE's Trustee's Vallabh Bhansali says, "You know in business you are seeking challenges and trouble. That's all you do constantly and hope to do well, but you will get into trouble and then your business is as many as you do. Some will always be in trouble but you see trouble is a relative word, a few quarters of bad performances are not really trouble. Trouble would be really you know when I have lost the competence to run a business and the business has lost its viability."
There is also one important technical step for Cyrus to consolidate his leadership of the group.
While he will be the chairman of Tata Sons - the groups' holding company, for real operational control he will like Ratan Tata before him, need to become chairman of the 4-5 individual group companies like Tata Motors, Tata Steel and so on. While this may be a far easier process than in Mr Tata's time, it won't be a cakewalk either as each of these companies is independent with a voluble board. Tata sources however claimed that the rollover - of him taking over the board will happen, in due course.
In all of this, what of Ratan Tata? Some indications of his elder statesmen status can be found on his newly opened twitter account - where the reticent corporate leader has been voicing his views on national concerns.
One of his latest tweets says, "Political differences and vested interests should never stand be allowed to stand in the way of India's economic progress."
But Mr Tata isn't walking into sunset just yet. He will continue as the head of the charitable Trusts - 7 in all which between them control a majority stake in Tata Sons.
Shirin says, "Yes his involvement will continue. I'm very happy and it is a very big plus point because that sort of continuity, that sort of philosophy continuing is of great importance. It is of great value."
And so while the age of Cyrus has begun - the age of Ratan Tata is not over. Not yet.
(Inputs and photos - Niha Masih)