Cyrus Mistry, Who Once Led India’s Biggest Company, Dies at 54

His family’s business, Shapoorji Pallonji Group, built luxury hotels and factories across Asia and went on to found large financial companies. Mr. Mistry’s father, Pallonji Mistry, who died in June at age 93, had a net worth of almost $29 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, putting him among India’s richest men.

Cyrus Mistry’s death in a car accident less than three months later adds to a grisly toll on Indian roads. The country has about 1 percent of the world’s vehicles but 11 percent of global deaths from road accidents, according to a report by the World Bank released in 2020. About 450,000 accidents take place annually, killing 150,000 people.

In recent years, the quality of roads has improved as the government has worked to connect vast rural parts of the country with its metropolises. But with more roads has come more accidents.

According to a preliminary investigation by the police in the Palghar district, both Mr. Mistry and Mr. Pandole appeared not to have been wearing a seatbelt. Mr. Pandole’s brother and his wife, who was driving, suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries, according to Prakash Gaekwad, a police officer in Palghar.

Mr. Chandrasekaran, the Tata chairman, said in a statement that he was mourning Mr. Mistry’s death. “He had a passion for life, and it is really tragic that he passed away at such a young age,” Mr. Chandrasekaran said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/business/cyrus-mistry-dies-tata.html