Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry
Pallonji Mistry.jpg
Mistry in 2016
Born(1929-06-01)1 June 1929
Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British Raj
Died28 June 2022(2022-06-28) (aged 93)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
NationalityIndian
CitizenshipIrish (previously Indian)[1]
OccupationBusinessman
Known for17.3% stake in Tata Sons
TitleChairman, Shapoorji Pallonji Group
SpousePatsy Perin Dubash
Children4, including Cyrus Mistry
RelativesNoel Tata (son-in-law)

Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (1 June 1929 – 28 June 2022) was an Indian-born Irish billionaire construction tycoon. He was chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group and a major shareholder of India's largest private conglomerate, Tata Group. He was one of the world's wealthiest people.

Early life

Pallonji Mistry was born to Shapoorji Mistry in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 1 June 1929.[2] He was a member of Parsi community in Bombay.[3]

The Mistrys own a substantial construction company, Shapoorji Pallonji. Shapoorji, the group patriarch and Pallonji's father, built some of Mumbai's landmarks around the Fort area – the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, the Grindlays Bank, the Standard Chartered Bank, the State Bank of India and the Reserve Bank of India buildings.[4]

Career

His father first bought shares in Tata Sons in the 1930s, a stake that as of 2011 stood at 18.4%, making Mistry the largest individual shareholder in Tata Sons,[1] which is primarily controlled by the Tata philanthropic Allied Trusts,[5][6] and the largest individual shareholder in India's largest private conglomerate, Tata Group, the primary shareholder being the charitable Tata Trusts.[7]

Pallonji Mistry was the chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group,[8] through which he owned Shapoorji Pallonji Construction Limited, Forbes Textiles and Eureka Forbes Limited.[citation needed] He was the former chairman of Associated Cement Companies.[citation needed]

His son, Cyrus, was chairman of Tata Sons from November 2011 to October 2016.[9][10] Within the Tata Group, he is known as the Phantom of Bombay House for the quiet but assured way he commanded power around the Mumbai headquarters of the Tata empire.[6]

According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Pallonji Mistry's wealth was estimated to be about US$30 Billion in mid-2021.[11] and US$29 billion at the time of his death. He was the richest Irish billionaire at the time of his death,[4] and the world's 143 richest person.[8]

President of India Pranab Mukherjee (right) presenting the Padma Bhushan Award to Mistry, 2016[12]
President of India Pranab Mukherjee (right) presenting the Padma Bhushan Award to Mistry, 2016[12]

Personal life and death

In 2003, Pallonji gave up his Indian citizenship to become an Irish citizen "on the basis of his marriage to an Irish-born national", Pat "Patsy" Perin Dubash, who was born in September 1939 at Hatch Street Nursing House in Dublin.[13] He remained in residence in Mumbai. The family's interest in Ireland is ascribed, in part, to their love of horses; Mistry owned a 200 acres (0.81 km2) stud farm and a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) home in Pune, India.[14]

Mistry has two sons and two daughters. His elder son, Shapoor Mistry (b. 1964), runs the Shapoorji Pallonji group, while his younger son, the late Cyrus Mistry (1968—2022), served for some years as chairman of the Tata group. Mistry's elder daughter is Laila and his younger daughter, Aloo, is married to Noel Tata, half-brother of Ratan Tata.[15][16]

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in January 2016 by the Government of India for his contributions in the field of trade and industry.[12]

A short biography of Mistry was written in a 2008 book by Manoj Namburu titled The Moguls of Real Estate.[17]

Mistry died in Mumbai on 28 June 2022 at the age of 93.[18][19]

References

  1. ^ a b Subramaniam, Kandula (22 January 2011). "The Phantom Player". Outlook Business India. Archived from the original on 9 March 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  2. ^ Shrivastava, Bhuma (28 June 2022). "Pallonji Mistry, Indian Billionaire Caught in Tata Feud, Dies at 93". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 28 June 2022. Mistry was born on June 1, 1929, in Mumbai. His father, Shapoorji Mistry, worked for the family company, which the son joined in 1947.
  3. ^ "Cyrus Mistry". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 June 2022. The Mistrys were members of Mumbai’s Parsi community, followers of the Zoroastrian religion who had grown prosperous as merchants and industrialists since the earliest colonial times.
  4. ^ a b "Pallonji Mistry is Ireland's richest person". Rediff.com. PTI. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Forbes profile: Pallonji Mistry". Forbes.com. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Cyrus Mistry, a Tata in all but name". MoneyControl. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  7. ^ Valdivia, Stephen (21 July 2017). "Meet Tata: India's Biggest Company". Fortune. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018.
  8. ^ a b Bhasin, Swati (28 June 2022). "Business tycoon Pallonji Mistry, who headed Shapoorji Pallonji Group, dies at 93". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Cyrus Mistry Removed As Chairman Of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata To Hold Interim Position". Outlook (India). 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016.
  10. ^ "Tata successor announced: Cyrus Mistry to take over from Ratan Tata in December 2012". NDTV. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  11. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Pallonji Mistry". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  12. ^ a b "A much-deserved Padma for Pallonji Mistry". Rediff. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Ireland's Rich List 1–10". Irish Independent. 31 March 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  14. ^ Mehta, Sunanda; Chatterjee, Dev (29 August 2004). "Mistry millionaires". Indian Express. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  15. ^ Munroe, Tony; Mehra, Prashant (23 November 2011). "Global search for Tata chairman ends close to home". Reuters. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  16. ^ Vijayraghavan, Kala; Mandavia, Megha (26 August 2018). "How next gen scions Leah, Maya and Neville are working their way up in Tata Group companies". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Property Plus Bangalore : Absorbing tales of tycoons". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 15 March 2008. Archived from the original on 18 March 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  18. ^ "SP Group's Pallonji Mistry dies at 93". Press Trust of India. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  19. ^ "Pallonji Mistry, the billionaire caught in Tata feud, dies at 93". The Economic Times. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.

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