7 boardroom break-ups that have rattled India Inc

Break-ups are hard, and moving on from any relationship is a huge challenge. As the world celebrated Valentine's Day, lets take a look at the intricate relationships in the boardrooms of India Inc. and even government - the break-ups that have ended up costing the shareholders in the past one year:

1. Tata-Mistry break-up

In October 2016, the now-famous Tata boardroom battle saw ouster of Cyrus Mistry, as Ratan Tata returned from his retirement to steer the group. It was a messy break-up, to say the least. Almost Rs 21,000 crore were wiped of Tata stocks in 48 hours of the surprise firing. While Ratan Tata questioned the way Mistry operated the Tata conglomerate, the latter accused him of continuous interference.

In three months and two weeks, Ratan Tata has managed to remove Cyrus Mistry from various group entities (Mistry stepped down from board of several group companies on his own) and even stripped him off his position as director of Tata Sons after a majority vote of shareholders. But a legal battle awaits that could further spill out skeletons from the closet.

2. "Ex-rebound" at Infosys

Infosys founder Naryana Murthy has shown in the past that founders never really quit on their relationship with their companies. After hanging his boots in 2002, he was back in 2013 to steer the company out of falling fortunes. Vishal Sikka took over as CEO and MD of Infosys in 2014, being the first non-founder to head the company.

But now Murthy, in a latest salvo, has questioned "governance lapses" citing Sikka’s pay package, and the severance package of former employees leading to tussle between Infosys founders and executives.

3. The runaway "cheat"

He made the great escape last year by boarding a flight to the UK as his employees demanded their dues. With a debt of over Rs 9000 crore, Vijay Mallya has been absconding even as the investigation agencies tighten the noose around his ex-employees with a hope to even extradite him from UK.

4. Love "flipped"

In February 2016, e-commerce giant Flipkart witnessed a series of top-level exits, with 40-year-old Mukesh Bansal, choosing to quit the company. Mukesh had become a part of the e-tailer in 2014 when he sold off fashion portal Myntra, which he had founded, for $375 million. He was head of commerce and advertising business when he put in his papers after the company started losing market share to rivals Amazon India.

According to insiders, it was Mukesh Bansal's decision to launch Myntra on an app platform that led to dip in sales initially, and ruffled feathers with the promoters. Even former Google executive, Punit Soni, with expertise in mobile technology resigned from the position of chief product officer along with Sandeep Baweja.

5. "Flings" that fizzled out

While every entreprenuer wishes for long-term success, global financial turmoil has lead to funding crunch for start-ups. Last year, many start-ups saw plummeting sales and pruning of their vision. Atleast 32 new ventures closed, starting with food start-ups like TinyOwl, Dazo, ZuperMeal and more. Rising stars of 2015 like PepperTap, intellegent interfaces, Fashionara fizzled out in the tough business envrionment.

6. Not giving "second chances"

After BJP MP Subramanian Swamy's attack, then RBI governor Raghuram Rajan chose to gracefully press the exit button last year. Amidst much speculation that he would be offered a second stint at the country's apex bank, Rajan made it clear that he wants to pursue "academic goals". He was succeeded by his deputy Urjit Patel. Rajan was appointed during the UPA government, but read the writing on the wall as Swamy unleashed a letter war questioning his positions.

7. A clean break-up

48-year-old Nikesh Arora was tipped for the top job at Japan's Softbank, but resigned in June last year over reported differences with chairman and CEO, Masayoshi Son. When he quit the firm in December, he was paid a whopping $125 million for nine months.

Also read: How Infosys got bitten by the Tata bug