Who Is Mehli Mistry, The New Trustee Of Tata Trusts

Tata Trusts, which control 66% stake in Tata Sons Pvt., have inducted Mehli Mistry as a trustee.

Mistry is now a non-executive trustee of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, its allied Tata Education and Development Trust and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. He joins Vijay Singh, Venu Srinivasan, RK Krishna Kumar, Noel Tata and Jehangir HC Jehangir.

A director of the Meherji Pallonji Group, he is seen as a close confidant of Tata Trusts' Chairman Ratan Tata, and has been associated with Tata Group companies over the last few decades.

Mistry is the estranged first cousin of former Tata Sons' Chairman Cyrus Mistry, who was killed in a car accident near Mumbai on Sept. 4. Cyrus had alleged preferential treatment to the companies of the Meherji Pallonji Group, though these allegations were never confirmed.

The Meherji Pallonji Group operates through its flagship company M Pallonji & Co. Pvt., which provides logistics, dredging, industrial coating and painting services on contract.

The 72-year-old private firm has Mehli, his brother Pheroze and their mother Maki Mistry as directors.

The clientele of M Pallonji includes power generating (thermal and hydro) stations, chemical and fertiliser factories, petroleum refineries, and offshore oil and gas platforms.

It has a long-term contract with Tata Power Co. for barging and dredging activities that ensures sustainable cash flows at a consolidated level. It is also involved in the shipping business through its logistics company M Pallonji Logistics Pvt., which generates sizeable revenue for the group on a consolidated basis.

M Pallonji & Co. Pvt. had sizeable investments in unquoted equity instruments worth Rs 471.4 crore as on March 31, 2021, according to rating agency ICRA Ltd. It has led to a large investment portfolio that has subdued the company’s return indicators to some extent. Any sizeable increase in the unquoted equity instrument would be rating sensitive, it said.

These investments include stake in PNB MetLife India Insurance Co., where Pheroze is a director.

At the Oct. 24, 2016 board meeting where Cyrus Mistry was sacked, the board of Tata Sons was to consider acquisition of PNB MetLife through a merger. Mehli Mistry's company held 17.15% in the insurer as of June this year.