Succession at some of the leading groups in the country

Transformation may hold key for the Tata Group, which has seen a change at the helm after 21 years. From heading companies at the Shapoorji Pallonji Group ($2.5 billion) that has only one listed company and relatively less public interface, Cyrus P Mistry, 44, (in pic) took over as the chairman of Tata Sons on December 28.

“He is capable, young and has familiarity of the group. I have seen him grow over the last 10-15 years... He was very much a part of the overseas growth plans of Tata Group and overseas growth has really happened in the last six years,” HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh had said after the announcement of Mistry’s elevation to the top job in 2011.

WIPRO

The man waiting in the wings at Wipro, the only family driven tech company in India — the top two firms, TCS and Infosys, are run by professionals — is Rishad Premji, 34, (in pic) the older son of Azim Hasham Premji, chairman and majority owner of Wipro.

Rishad joined Wipro Technologies in 2007 but his big move came last year when he took over as its chief strategy officer. If company circles are to be believed, he is set for a promotion — this time he might get into the board. Premji Sr. owns 78.3 per cent of the stake in the company which has a market value of Rs 95,000 crore. The company will need Rishad’s strategies to tide over outsourcing issues and the slowdown in the US

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