Tata Sons director

For the first time in its 103-year-old history Tata Sons has appointed a woman as independent director. The induction of Farida Khambata, top ranked global investment strategist, is a pointer to Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry’s preference for new and external faces on the board, reported The Times of India (TOI) on April 2, 2015. With the exception of two stalwarts from the old guard, Ishaat Hussain and R. Gopalakrishnan, the Tata Sons’ board of seven today comprises external members, the newspaper notes.

Farida Khambata: investment strategist

As noted by the Tata Sons website, Khambata comes to Tata from Cartica Capital, a firm dealing with global emerging markets, established by former executives of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The latter is part of the World Bank group that manages assets worth US $ 2.6 billion and has connections with major commercial establishments in India like TTK Prestige and Mahendra and Mahendra Financial Services. Khambata joined Cartica from IFC where she was regional vice president looking after operations in South East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the website mentions.