Cyrus Mistry, the Chairman Designate for Tata Sons would formally take over the charge when the present Chairman Ratan Tata retires on 28 December 2012 completing 75 years of age.
Cyrus is expected to remain the Chairman till 2043 when he retires after completing 75 years of age.
Cyrus Mistry would be the  first non-Indian national to head the Indian conglomerate. He is an Irish by citizenship.
On November 23, 2011, Mistry was named as the Deputy Chairman as a result of a unanimous vote of the Tata Sons Board of Directors and selection committee
Subsequently he would also serve as the Chairman of various Tata Group Companies like, TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Taj Group etc.
In the process,  Tata Motors  has formally announced the appointment of Tata Sons’ chairman-designate Cyrus P. Mistry as its chairman effective Dec 28, 2012.
“The board of directors of Tata Motors today (Thursday) announced the appointment of Mistry as the chairman of the board with effect from Dec 28, on the retirement of Ratan Tata,” the company said in a statement.
According to the statement, the company’s board conferred on Tata with the honorary title of chairman emeritus.
When Mistry begins serving in his new role in 2012 not only he will be the second youngest leader in the group., but also it will be the second time in the company’s 143-year-old history that the Tata group will have a non-Tata family member as its chairman
While Mistry is not a Tata descendant, his sister is married to Noel Tata, Ratan Tata’s half-brother, who was considered as a candidate to serve as chairman of Tata Group
Top officials in the group who have worked closely with Mistry say he gets along famously with the Tata Group chairman and is very similar to Tata in nature and attitude.They add that Cyrus was the chairman’s first choice right from the time the hunt began for a successor. But Tata was also keen to follow a systematic process of selection, involving shortlisting of candidates — both external and internal.
When Mistry was picked for the post, Ratan Tata had said: “The appointment of Mr Cyrus P. Mistry as deputy chairman of Tata Sons is a good and far-sighted choice. I have been impressed with the quality and calibre of his participation, his astute observations and his humility.â€