Independent Directors Of Tata Group's Indian Hotels Back Cyrus Mistry

Mumbai: Cyrus Mistry today scored a big round in his fight against the Tata Group as six independent directors on the board of the group's hospitality arm Indian Hotels strongly supported him.

The independent directors "unanimously expressed full confidence in Cyrus Mistry and praised steps taken by him in providing strategic direction and leadership," the company told the Stock Exchange after a board meeting at Bombay House in Mumbai, where there was a brief fight between security and media crew.

In the 10-member board, the independent directors are HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, industrialist Nadir Godrej, Gautam Banerjee, Keki Dadiseth, Vibha Rishi and Ireena Vittal. The four others in the board are Mr Mistry, his older brother Shapoor Mistry and two Tata executives.

Mr Mistry, 48, was removed last month as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $103 billion group, and Ratan Tata was brought back as interim chairman. Mr Mistry remains on the board of about a dozen companies in the group. These include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Indian Hotels, Tata Global Beverages Limited, Tata Chemicals, Tata Industries and Tata Teleservices.

Mr Mistry also continues to be a director of Tata Sons and could by law only be removed by shareholders after being given due warning. His family's Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a construction major, owns nearly a fifth of Tata Sons.

The Tata Group has been hoping that Mr Mistry will resign from his other posts, however, he has so far shown no inclination to do so, attending board meetings and other matters.

In a sharp letter last week, Mr Mistry had said the group had made several bad acquisitions across group companies including Indian Hotels, which could result in potential write-downs of $18 billion for the group. He had said that Indian Hotels had acquired the SeaRock property in Mumbai at a highly inflated price and many of its foreign properties had sold at a loss.