Tata Managing Director Dies in Hotel Fall

Karl Slym, managing director for Tata Motors Ltd., died last weekend after falling from a high floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok. Reuters reports that police suspect suicide.

The company has provided no other details except to say Slym was in Bangkok for a board meeting of Tata's Thailand unit.

Slym was an Englishman who joined Tata Motors two years ago from General Motors Co.'s China operation. He headed the Indian company's automotive operations, except for its Jaguar Land Rover unit, and is credited with beginning constructive long-term improvements in the company.

In its last fiscal year ended March 31, Tata Motors posted 14% higher revenue, but net income dropped 27% to 98.9 billion rupees. In the first half of the current fiscal year, consolidated net revenue and profit each climbed about 21%.

Slym succeeded Carl-Peter Forster, a former GM Europe executive who quit at Tata less than two years after joining the company in 2010.