AFP, Mumbai :
Family patriarch Ratan Tata sought to reassure rattled investors of stability at India’s biggest conglomerate Tuesday after the sudden sacking of chairman Cyrus Mistry sent Tata company shares falling.
Seventy-eight-year old Tata has taken interim charge of the sprawling $100 billion tea-to-steel Tata Group, after Mistry was abruptly dumped on Monday evening, four years after being appointed chairman.
The sacking stunned the Indian business world and sparked a fall in shares at Tata Sons firms on Tuesday as Indian media carried reports that Mistry could take legal action.
Tata, who had stepped down as chairman after two decades and was replaced by Mistry in 2012, held some two hours of talks with CEOs of TATA’s numerous companies at the group’s headquarters in Mumbai on Tuesday.
According to a company statement after the meeting, Tata told them he had assumed the chairmanship “for stability and continuity so that there is no vacuum”.
Tata told them to focus on their respective businesses and not be distracted by the leadership change.
“This will be for a short time. A new permanent leadership will be in place,” the statement quoted Tata as saying.
The search for a successor to Mistry was likely to take four months, Tata Sons said in a short statement on the dismissal on Monday.
Tata Sons is the holding company of India’s most famous family conglomerate which has at least 100 companies in its portfolio spanning as many countries.
