Cyrus Mistry faces big challenges in his new role

Cyrus Mistry faces big challenges in his new roleTata Group's outgoing chairman Ratan Tata will not only hand over reigns of the 100-billion salt to software conglomerate to Cyrus Mistry but also several problems of group.

On December 28, 43-year-old Mistry will take over the conglomerate as it new chairman. He will have more than one hundred companies, around 81,000 employees and revenues of Rs 1,45,000 crore to look after. The group companies operate in diverse fields, ranging from salt to software to look after.

He will have to find out some concrete way to slash the group's huge debt pile of around Rs 60,000 crore. The group's very poor consolidated growth rate will also be a big problem for the new chairman to deal with.

The condition of Tata Steel is particularly bad. The highly depressed western market has left the steel giant to struggle for its survival, just prior to the change of guard.

B Muthuraman, Tata Steel's former managing director, said, "Tata Steel is in a very bad shape. The company is bearing heavy with a massive debt and the management in Europe is predicting very tough times ahead."

However, Mistry's colleagues as well as analysts are optimistic that he will be able to show his mettle and put the conditions right. They claim that Mistry is no stranger managing difficult times.