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The day Cyrus was removed, Ratan Tata took charge on a temporary basis till the new chairman was selected. The question which bothered everyone was why the differences between the two had reached such a stage.

One of the reasons stated was the way Cyrus handled some of the businesses.The Tata group chairman is first the chairman of Tata Sons. Tata Sons is the holding company for most of the businesses. The chairman of Tata Sons is automatically the chairman for the group. But Tata Sons is not a listed entity. It provides capital to most businesses. Cyrus was said to be reluctant to fund businesses which were not profitable. Many were forced to look for other funding options. This was either through an expensive market route or by liquidating some assets.

Another reason was related to the various trusts which worked for social causes. Two of them, the Jamsetji Tata Trust and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust, were headed by Ratan Tata. Cyrus was apparently ignoring these important trusts. It is said that a few months before Cyrus was removed, Ratan Tata had managed to take back the investments made by the trusts in Tata Sons. He reportedly withdrew nearly ` 3,941 crore ten years prematurely. This was said to be an example of mutual distrust, given that Cyrus was the head of Tata Sons while Ratan Tata was heading the trusts.

Excerpted from Pg 210 of Tatas: How a family built a business and a nation by Girish Kuber