Meet the generals in Tata and Mistry's war rooms

The Tata team has experience, while Mistry's is aggressive

Tata Sons Interim Chairman Ratan Tata and his predecessor Cyrus Mistry are locked in a bitter battle over the control of Tata group companies. While Tata has picked up old hands to man his war room, Mistry is relying on support from his brother Shapoor and independent directors Nusli Wadia and Deepak Parekh. A veteran of many a corporate battle, Tata is also taking advice from old friends such as C Sivasankaran and R K Krishna Kumar. We take a look at the generals of both the war rooms, who do not have budget constraints to pin down their opponents. 

Tata's Generals

R Venkataramanan: The most powerful man after Ratan Tata in the Tata group, Venkataramanan prefers to keep a low profile but is Tata’s chief strategist. During Mistry's four-year tenure at Bombay House, Venkat, as he is popularly known, was the eyes and ears of Tata. In the ongoing war, it’s Venkat who is negotiating with lawyers such as Harish Salve and passing on instructions to the rest of the team. Venkat could see himself in the spotlight due to the Rs 22-crore fraud in Air Asia India, where he is also a shareholder.

R K Krishna Kumar: The former Indian Hotels (IHCL) vice-chairman is back in the strategy team. It was during Kumar’s term that IHCL signed deals to buy Orient Express and SeaRock Hotel in Bandra, Mumbai that was housed in an off-balance sheet vehicle. Kumar is a regular in the war room and played an important role in the recent coup in Tata Global Beverages board room where Mistry was ousted as chairman.

N A Soonawala: The 81-year-old is an old Tata hand and has held many important positions when Tata was the chairman. As a trustee in Tata Trusts, Soonawala sent a handwritten note to other trustees this year asking them to take action against Mistry. The note blamed Mistry for the faltering businesses in the Tata group. But, the Mistry camp has blamed all this on Ratan Tata calling them legacy issues. 

Amit Chandra: A trustee of Tata Trusts, Chandra was inducted on the Tata Sons board in August this year along with Venu Srinivasan and Ajay Piramal. Chandra, managing director of Bain Capital, is now helping Tata on the ‘post-surgical strike’ operations, says an insider. Chandra also coordinates with other directors such as Piramal, Srinivasan and Nitin Nohria, dean of Harvard Business School. 

Diwan Arun Nanda: The Rediffusion chairman is advising Tata on media strategy – for a fee of course. Nanda, along with Suhel Seth, is in the forefront of the battle giving Tata’s side of the story to the media. Seth is often on television channels to beat down Mistry. Since Mistry’s ouster, Tata has been getting a lot of negative coverage, especially in international media. 

Mistry's Generals

Shapoor Mistry: Elder brother of Cyrus, Shapoor has opened his heart and purse for his brother. The billionaire brothers own a 18.5 per cent stake in Tata Sons and have a joint net worth of $14.5 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations. Insiders say Shapoor has said no expense will be spared to get justice for his brother, and that Cyrus was only trying to clean up the financial mess left behind by Tata. Shapoor is giving key inputs to the war room on strategy.

Nusli Wadia: Wadia has come out in full support of Mistry and that's the biggest worry in Tata's war room. Soon after the Tata Chemicals board meeting in Bombay House in which the independent directors supported Mistry, Wadia was in the Tata group headquarters talking to key Tata men. In one of these meetings, a Tata confidant even asked Wadia to meet Tata to settle the matter. But Wadia, who is upset with the manner in which Mistry was asked to leave, did not budge. Insiders say that in the ensuing legal battle, Wadia will play a very important role as he knows the Tata group for the past five decades. Insiders also say that J R D Tata had asked Wadia to become Tata Sons’ chairman after him but he had refused. After Wadia refused to take even the vice-chairman's job six months before JRD’s demise, JRD extracted a promise from Wadia that he would look after the Tata group. Hence, Wadia’s keen interest in the current battle. 

Iqbal Chagla: Mistry’s father-in-law is the chief legal adviser in the war room. The other legal advisors are Apurva Diwanji of Desai & Diwanji, Janak Dwarkadas, and former JSA partner Somasekhar Sundaresan. 

READ OUR FULL COVERAGE OF THE TATA-MISTRY BOARDROOM BATTLE