Cyrus Mistry's interview, references removed from Tata website

Hours after Tata Sons, in an unforeseen move, replaced Cyrus Mistry as the company’s Chairman on Monday, links and references to Mistry on the Indian conglomerate's website were taken down, NDTV Profit reported. 

The link to perhaps the only interview that Mistry gave to Tata Review – the company's in-house magazine – after assuming the position of Chairman, was also removed. 

Clicking on the link to the interview, which was published on the group’s corporate website, tata.com, now leads to a page that reads, "The page you are looking for has been moved or removed. Use the links on top to explore the site, or go to the tata.com homepage." 

In the interview published in September 2016, Mistry talks about "coming to grips with the responsibility of chairmanship, the multiple challenges facing Tata companies, the essentials of technology, innovation and customer centricity, and the continuing Tata commitment to societal causes."

Speaking about his experience as Chairman, he said, "When I assumed office as the group chairman, I was acutely aware of a few things. I knew I was not leading a single company, but was at the helm of a unique institution with a rich and glorious history. I was very conscious that we had a powerful foundation that had been nurtured over the last fifteen decades, and we now needed to build the capabilities that would allow us to succeed for the next 150 years."

Screenshot/ Cache page

Mistry was not the only person suddenly excised from the Tata website. The Times of India reported that, "The profiles of several people who were members of the Group Executive Council (GEC), the nerve centre of the Tata Group, were also removed. The link to the GEC has also been removed. Other than Mistry, NS Rajan, Nirmalya Kumar, Madhu Kannan, Harish Bhat and Mukund Rajan were the members of the think tank."

In a bolt from the blue, the $100-billion plus Tata Group on Monday announced that its board had replaced Mistry as the company Chairman, and named Ratan N Tata as Interim Chairman of the company. Ratan Tata is Chairman Emeritus of the group.

The Board also constituted a Selection Committee to choose a new Chairman for Tata Sons comprising Ratan N Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra, Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya.

The committee, set up as per the criteria in the Articles of Association of Tata Sons, has been mandated to complete the selection process in four months.

Mistry, 48, born in Ireland, had taken over as Chairman of Tata Sons barely four years ago, in December 2012.

Agency inputs