What Came Before: The Path That Led to Mistry's Ouster

At the helm of the Tata Group for more than two decades, Ratan Tata took a biggest-is-best approach. Putting India’s largest conglomerate on steroids, he propelled Tata onto the world stage by adding marquee brands such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Tetley tea and New York’s Pierre hotel to the group producing much of the nation’s salt, steel, trucks, electricity, fertilizer and other basic goods. He also increased debt 11-fold in his final 10 years.

When Cyrus Mistry, the first from outside the immediate Tata family to head the group since its 1868 founding, came in three years ago in the wake of a global economic downturn, his first actions were aimed at addressing the debt mountain: raising cash, refinancing loans, selling assets and writing down their value, particularly in Europe where Ratan Tata had paid pre-2008 bull-market prices.