Noel N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts, has been appointed to the board of Tata Sons Ltd, the holding company of the Tata group, according to a Tata group source. Despite his recent election as Chairman of Tata Trusts following the passing of Ratan Tata last month, Noel Tata will not assume the role of Chairman of Tata Sons. Ratan Tata had previously separated the positions of Chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Trusts to ensure different leadership for each institution.
Tata Trusts, which owns over 66% of Tata Sons, has three nominees on the Tata Sons board. Alongside Noel Tata, the nominees include Venu Srinivasan, Chief of the TVS Group, and Vijay Singh, former Defence Secretary. Other directors on the Tata Sons board include industrialist Ajay Piramal, former Unilever Global COO Harish Manwani, Leo Puri, Chairman of JP Morgan India South Asia, former World Bank official Anita M. George, JLR CEO Ralph Speth, and Tata Sons Group CFO Saurabh Agarwal. Notably, the Pallonji Mistry group, which holds an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, does not have a nominee on the board.
In 2012, when Ratan Tata retired as Chairman of Tata Sons, Noel Tata was considered for the position. However, Ratan Tata did not favor his selection, citing Noel’s lack of experience to lead the conglomerate. Instead, Cyrus Mistry was chosen but was ousted from the Tata group in 2016 following a contentious boardroom battle. Noel Tata was again overlooked for the Chairman role in January 2017, with N Chandrasekaran, then head of TCS, being appointed successfully.
Now, in 2024, following Ratan Tata’s passing, Noel Tata has been appointed to the Tata Sons board as Chairman of Tata Trusts. With over 40 years of association with the Tata group, Noel Tata currently serves on the boards of several Tata companies, including Tata International Limited, Trent, Voltas, Tata Investment Corporation, Tata Steel, and Titan Company Limited. Under his leadership, Trent Ltd saw significant financial growth, with revenues increasing from ₹2,381.44 crore in FY2015 to ₹12,277.49 crore in FY2024 and net profits rising from ₹129 crore to ₹1,435.82 crore in the same period. Additionally, Tata International Ltd grew from a turnover of $500 million to over $3 billion during his tenure as Managing Director from 2010 to 2021.
As the new Chairman of Tata Trusts and a director on the Tata Sons board, Noel Tata faces the challenge of ensuring robust corporate governance within the group, safeguarding shareholder wealth, and driving the performance of group companies while exploring new industrial opportunities. He is also expected to play a pivotal role in selecting the next Chairman of Tata Sons in 2028, when Chandrasekaran’s tenure concludes.
