Tata succession: What’s Cyrus Mistry like to work with?

MUMBAI: Six months ago, Cyrus Mistry was part of a group discussing a large foreign currency loan for one of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group firms. The discussion veered towards a forex cover; the rupee was then at Rs 45 against the dollar. Others in the group were in favour of hedging up to Rs 50. Mistry intervened and asked the team to extend the cover up to Rs 55.

Mistry’s intuitive call saved the group company from a currency hit as the rupee breached Rs 52 against the US dollar. It was just another instance of Cyrus Mistry’s decisive mind at work, says a senior executive at the SP Group, one of India’s most valuable and low-profile private enterprises. “At 43, he has started, acquired, restructured , turned around and exited businesses, doing almost everything possible in the corporate boardroom ,” adds this official.

He comes with two decades of experience since the Mistry family puts its young scions to work very early in life. So what’s expected of a tech savvy billionaire as he moves away from an unlisted family enterprise to India’s largest private conglomerate with a hundred companies, more than 30 of which are listed on the market?

Mistry may put the Tata companies on turbo, but is mature enough not to do it without thinking things through.Mistry is a workaholic for whom a 20-hour day schedule is not unusual.