Known as the ‘Phantom of Bombay House’, billionaire entrepreneur Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, the Chairman of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, has left the world leaving behind a great legacy. The business tycoon was 93 when he passed away. Who was Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry? Here is his story.
The billionaire construction tycoon was born to a Parsi family from Gujarat in 1929. After his former education at Mumbai’s Cathedral & John Cannon School, he left for London to pursue his higher studies at Imperial College.
Mistry’s entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 18 alongside his father, participating in the family business. The Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji Group started operations in 1865. Mistry helped expand the 156-year-old business to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Qatar in the Middle East in the 1970s. He built the palace of the Sultan of Oman in 1976. Currently, the business empire is spread across India, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
The group has several feathers on its cap. It constructed some of Mumbai’s iconic buildings such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) building, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building, and Brabourne Stadium. A solitary individual, Mistry was the largest individual shareholder in Tata Group. He had an 18.4 per cent holding in the conglomerate. He was the Tata Group Chairman from 2012 to 2016. The bond with Tata began with his father who first purchased shares in Tata Sons in the 1930s. However, the group severed its ties with Tata following the ousting of Mistry’syounger son Cyrus Mistry who served as the Chairman of Tata Sons from November 2011 to October 2016.
Mistry was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2016 for his contributions to trade and industry. Mistry owned Shapoorji Pallonji Construction Limited, Forbes Textiles, and Eureka Forbes Limited. He was also the former chairman of Associated Cement Companies. Mistry was the 125th richest person in the world with a net worth of $15 billion.
In 2003, he accepted Irish citizenship via his marriage to Patsy Perin Dubash. Mistry is survived by his wife and four children – sons Shapoor Mistry and Cyrus Mistry- and daughters Laila Mistry and Aloo Mistry.
