Who Is Running Tata? It’s A Mistry!

No, there is no typo in the headline. Tata Motors of India has announced that their current Chairman, Cyrus Mistry, will fill in as the Managing Director whilst it finalises a permanent replacement for Karl Slym, the former MD who fell to his death from the 22nd floor of the Shangri-La in Thailand last month (Read also: Tata Chief, Slym, In Suicide Jump). In fact, Mistry will head a committee that will oversee strategic issues and operations. In addition to this, Mistry will also head a new product design and engineering review meetings. There is no indictation how long Tata expects to take to appoint the successor nor is there an indication if there is a shortlist for the job as of yet.

Slym, who fell to his death in an apparent suicide after an alleged argument with his wife, headed up Tata Motors but did not oversee Jaguar Land Rover. He had been appointed to try to revive the ailing fortunes of the Indian auto manufacturing giant which has been losing market share alarmingly as the Indian market gradually opens up to competition. Tata Motors, which relies on Jaguar Land Rover for the bulk of its profits (Read also: Jaguar Land Rover Reports Record Breaking Sales, And Profits Too), has seen sales of Tata-branded passenger vehicles slump by 37% in the past nine months, which is the biggest decline of the 17 automakers in India. Worse still for Tata were the sales for the Nano, the much vaunted cheapest car in the world, which saw sales fall by 72%. image: businesstoday.intoday.in