Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, builder of Mumbai’s landmark locales, dies at 93

Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, passed away in the early hours of Tuesday (June 28), at his residence in Mumbai.

Mistry, the largest individual shareholder in the Tata Group with an 18.4 per cent holding in the conglomerate, was 93. He died mid-sleep at his south Mumbai residence on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, reports said.

Counted among the world’s 143 richest persons and one of the richest Irishmen in the world, Mistry was fondly called the ‘Phantom of the Bombay House’ in the Tata Group circle for being a powerful figure in the company at one point of time.

His company Shapoorji Pallonji Groups has built some of Mumbai’s landmark buildings including those of the State Bank of India, Reserve Bank of India, the Taj Colaba and the Oberoi Hotel.

Mistry also owned Shapoorji Pallonji Construction Limited, Forbes Textiles and Eureka Forbes, a name which may ring a bell in many a household.

The first foreign project of Mistry’s real estate business was building the palace of the Sultan of Oman in 1976.

It is said that the company started accumulating shares in the Tata Group during Mistry’s father’s time when the Shapoorji Pallonji Group was paid in shares for construction the factories of Tata Steel and Tata Motors.

The shares are now worth $28.9 billion, making Mistry the 41^st richest Indian.

The Mistrys shared close ties with the Tatas until 2016, when Mistry’s younger son, Cyrus Mistry was removed as chairman of Tata and Sons. The family had also objected to the privatisation of the Tata Sons, the holding company where they held a key stake.

An Indian by birth, Pallonji gave up his Indian citizenship in 2003 to embrace that of Ireland after he married Patsy Perin Dubash.

He was feted with the Padma Bhusan in 2016 for his contributions to the field of trade and industry.