Tata Spat Adds To Angst Of India's Dwindling Parsis
Umer Jamshaid Published November 03, 2016 | 02:15 PM
MUMBAI, Nov 3 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 03rd Nov, 2016 ) : Tata has long swelled the pride of India's small Parsi community but recent infighting and fears the conglomerate's next chief will be an outsider is unnerving the rapidly dwindling group.
Mumbai's famous but notoriously private Parsis are unhappy at the daily mudslinging between company patriarch Ratan Tata and his Parsi counterpart, former chairman Cyrus Mistry, following the latter's unceremonious sacking last month.
"Parsis are upset because the battle between Mistry and Tata went public instead of staying as boardroom negotiations. We hope it is over soon," said Jehangir Patel, editor of community magazine Parsiana.
Parsis are followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest religions. Zoroastrians believe in one god and worship in fire temples, believing fire to be a symbol of their god's purity. They first arrived in India more than 1,000 years ago after fleeing persecution in Persia.
They became one of India's wealthiest communities, boasting a number of famed industrialists, including the internationally-renowned Tata family synonymous with the financial rise of India's commercial capital Mumbai.
The community has also produced acclaimed Indian scientists and musicians and its influence far exceeds its size. However, late marriages and falling birth rates have sparked a demographic crisis that is threatening the group's survival with the number of Zoroastrians in India more than halving since 1940.
There are now fewer than 60,000 in India, where most Zoroastrians live, and infighting between reformists and traditionalists about how to preserve the traditionally-closed group is commonplace.
Tata and Mistry are pillars of Mumbai's Parsi set and their spat appears to be adding to the angst that many Parsi-Zoroastrians feel about the community's uncertain future. "The feud is a letdown for the Parsi community as its number of role models and people in position of power reduces," Patel told AFP.
Tata Group is a sprawling $103 billion steel-to-salt conglomerate founded under British colonial rule in 1868. It operates in more than 100 countries and owns high-profile companies such as Britain's Jaguar Land Rover and Anglo-Dutch steel firm Corus.
Mistry, 48, was sacked as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group, on October 24, just four years after succeeding Ratan Tata to become its first chief who was not a member of the immediate Tata family. Tata is said to have become increasingly frustrated by Mistry's focus on divestments as he sought to reduce the sprawling group's $30 billion debt level.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
Shahzaib Rind calls on Deputy Speaker Balochistan
Ahsan chairs 13th CPEC-JCC preparatory meeting, reviews arrangements for high-le ..
DC Tharparkar inaugurates anti-polio campaign
HDA Mehran workers demand salaries
Taxila police nab motorcycle lifter gang
Inter-university weightlifting championship kicks off at SAU
Walk held in a series of enrollment campaigns
Team from Gaza mediator Egypt arrives in Israel for truce talks
Kids murders: IHC orders psychiatric examination of mother
Health minister credits PML-N for advancements in organ transplantation
Court grants interim bail to Azam Swati in cyber crime case
More Stories From World
-
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
56 minutes ago -
Team from Gaza mediator Egypt arrives in Israel for truce talks
1 hour ago -
Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70
59 minutes ago -
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
55 minutes ago -
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
2 hours ago -
Romania court opens way for start of influencer Tate's trial
2 hours ago
-
Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70
2 hours ago -
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
2 hours ago -
Russia targets Ukraine railways as Western aid due to arrive
3 hours ago -
Miner Anglo American rejects BHP's near $39-billion takeover bid
3 hours ago -
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
3 hours ago -
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
3 hours ago