The feud between Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry was arguably one of the biggest in the last decade in the corporate India. One of the most dramatic and consequential battles, however, began long before Mistry’s unceremonious ouster from Tata Sons. To get a complete sense of how the whole story unfolded and resulted into a high-stake billion-dollar Tata-Mistry corporate battle, one needs to go to the past, particularly, the history of three remarkable Parsi families Tata, Wadia and Mistry, whose heirs were now at war with one another.

It was ironical for many that industrialist Nusli Wadia — who helped Ratan Tata to firm his grip on, arguably, India’s most prestigious business house — was firmly backing Mistry in this battle.

The legal battle kick-started when Mistry filed a case in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Tata Sons under various heads of the Companies Act of 2012. In his petition, Mistry claimed that the company was oppressing the interest of small stakeholders. The NCLT, however, ruled in favour of the Tatas. Many thought the slugfest between the two prestigious groups, ShapoorJi Pallonji Group and the Tatas, would end, but to their surprise, Cyrus Mistry challenged the NCLT rulings in the NCLAT. The NCLAT hearings, this time, were in favour of Mistry.

The NCLAT also gave Mistry more than that was asked for by asking to restore the CEO status of Mistry, leading to new complexities in the case. Meanwhile, the company was transformed from a public to a private company, and Ratan Tata became the Interim Director. SP group was also trying to pledge its shares in a bid to raise funds.

In January 2020, Tata Sons challenged NCLAT verdict in the Supreme Court, which stayed the former’s decision.

Later, the Supreme Court in March last year upheld Cyrus Mistry’s removal from the post of executive chairman of Tata Sons and rejected the Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s accusations against Ratan Tata, including Tata Sons board’s allegedly oppressive practices against minority shareholders.