Business Tycoon Pallonji Mistry Passes Away at 93

CHENNAI (IANS) – Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, the billionaire realtor and industrialist, and Chairman Emeritus of the venerable Shapoorji Pallonji Group, passed away at his home here on June 28.

He was 93 and is survived by his sons Shapoorji and Cyrus P. Mistry — latter of who was in the limelight for the huge corporate tussle with the Tata Group a few years ago, and two daughters, Laila, and Aloo — the latter wedded to Noel Tata, half-brother of Ratan Tata.

Born on June 1, 1929, in a Parsi family from Gujarat, Pallonji Mistry had his schooling in Mumbai and went to London for his higher studies and joined the family business later.

Pallonji Mistry enabled the business to venture into Middle East countries.

His father Shapoorji had bought shares in Tata Sons in 1930 and the stakes now are about 18 percent.

It was in 2003, Pallonji Mistry surrendered his Indian citizenship and became an Irish citizen. He was married to an Ireland-born national Patsy Perin Dubash.

Pallonji Mistry was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2016, India’s third highest civilian award for his contribution to industry.

The Sharpoorji Pallonji Group started in 1865 with a notable construction history dating back to 1887 – Littlewood Pallonji & Co. was one of the companies that helped to build a large Malabar Hill reservoir – is now a global diversified conglomerate with 18 major companies operating in six business segments – Engineering & Construction, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Water, Energy, and Financial Services.

With a workforce of over 50,000 in over 50 countries, the group has developed several mega and iconic structures like RBI headquarters, SBI, HSBC, Grindlay Bank, Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, and others in south Mumbai, besides other major infrastructure projects.

The Group had also produced the iconic Hindi film, K. Asif’s ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ (1960), then the most expensive one and till date, it reigns among the top popular movies of Bollywood.