The close-knit Parsi community of less than 60,000 is seen divided amid the widening rift between Tata Sons interim chairman Ratan Tata and ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, the two stalwart ‘ Dikras ’ (or boys).
“I think it’s good, in a way, that we got to know the mess that Tata Group has been going through,” Cyrus Poonawala, the billionaire chairman of Pune-based Serum Institute told The Hindu . “Tata companies are not doing well and Cyrus was seen as someone cleaning (up) the mess. Most members of our community feel that the exit could have been gentle and smooth,” he said.
He said that court cases were best avoided. “Both parties should head to an amicable settlement.” He also clarified that he himself was not mediating between the two groups. “The community is not yet divided but, there is (emerging) difference of perception among members,” Mr. Poonawala added.
When asked if he was enabling a rapprochement between the two sides, Mr. Adi Godrej, a leading businessman from the Parsi community, said, in a text message, “I regret my inability to comment.”
The community’s loyalties lie with Ratan Tata’s ‘legacy’ on the one side and Cyrus Mistry’s ‘business acumen’ on the other. Anahita Subedar, editor of Parsi Times said that there was clear divide within the community over the issue, given the top business families they hail from.
“Many members back the return of Tata for his vision while the rest believe that Cyrus should have been given more time,” she said. The Parsi community is plumping for one of their own as the new chairman. Noel Tata, half-brother of Ratan Tata and brother-in-law of Cyrus Mistry, fills the criterion, members felt.
