Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) received a letter dated 9th November 2016 from Tata Sons Ltd. declaring Ishaat Hussain as the Chairman of the Board of Directors with immediate effect. He has replaced Cyrus Mistry. With the new announcement, Cyrus Mistry ceases to be the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Ishaat Hussain has taken over duties, TCS declared in a regulatory filing.
TCS also said that Ishaat Hussain will hold office as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company until another suitable Chairman is appointed in his place.
“Tata Sons has issued a special notice under Section 169 read with Section 115 of the Companies Act, 2013 and a requisition for convening an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the company under Section 100(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 to consider a resolution of the removal of Cyrus P Mistry as Director of the Company”.
A surprise announcement was made by Tata Sons on 24th October this year about the removal of their Chairman, Cyrus Mistry was was appointed as the $100 billion group’s Chairman since 2011, after having been on the Board of Directors since 2006. He was favored as he has an affiliation with Shapoorji Pallonji, Tata Sons’ biggest shareholder of the Company.
Though no official reason was given to his removal, there was speculation that the Company was not pleased with his shedding of non-profit businesses, and his focus being solely on company cash cows. Ratan Tata had taken over as temporary Chairman at the time of the announcement, until a suitable candidate was chosen to take Mistry’s place.
Ishaat Hussain has been a part of the Tata Group since 1981, first being a part of the Board of the Indian Tube Company. In 1983, he moved to Tata Steel, after the Indian Tube Company and Tata Steel merged. Besides being a pivotal part of the Tata Sons Board, he has also served as Chairman of Voltas Limited and Tata Sky Limited, among other companies under the Tata Sons banner.
