Tata Sons: Indian drama means more uncertainty in Port Talbot
The sudden ousting of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons has sent shockwaves through India. It could also have serious implications for Britain, said The Times. In March, Tata Steel announced that it planned to sell its loss-making Port Talbot plant, but the sale was paused in July when the plunging pound made it more competitive. Mistry’s removal means that some 11,000 workers now “face fresh uncertainty”.
“The dismissal has exposed tensions at the top of a group famed for its stable management,” said the Financial Times. In the 144 years before Mistry, the $100bn software-to-steel behemoth had only five leaders – all family members. Ratan Tata, who handed over the reins in 2012, now returns as interim chairman. Analysts say the main cause of the split was Mistry’s determination to trim his expansionist predecessor’s “acquisitive legacy” – and there was particular disagreement about his decision to offload the European steel business. According to one company insider, the upshot of his departure is that Port Talbot works are “virtually safe”; the company will probably now invest “whatever it takes to make it efficient”.
Yes, Mistry’s departure could be good news for Port Talbot, said Graham Ruddick in The Guardian: “Ratan Tata is a renowned Anglophile”. Even so, they’re not out of the woods. Mistry had been making progress on a potential merger of Tata’s European steel operations with Thyssenkrupp, and was also “close to a deal” with the UK Government about a restructuring of the firm’s pension scheme. All that now hangs in the balance. “After months of worrying about their future”, workers at Port Talbot could do without this new twist. “If only Tata had acted as decisively with its UK steel business as it has with axing Mistry.”