Tata Sons has approved the re-appointment of N Chandrasekaran as Chairman of the Tata Group for another five-year term, sources told ANI.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Tata Sons Board held in Mumbai on Thursday.
Chandrasekaran has been serving as Chairman of Tata Sons since 2017. His re-appointment will extend his tenure at the helm of the Tata Group for another five years.
N Chandrasekaran’s stepping down and a comeback
Chandrasekaran had announced on August 12 that he would not seek a third term after completing his current tenure.
Now, the Nomination and Remuneration Committee will ask the 63-year-old to reconsider the decision he conveyed to the board in August. The decision was made before the Reserve Bank of India’s ruling and under a different set of assumptions regarding Tata Sons’ regulatory trajectory.
Noel Tata still against re-appointment
Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts and a member of the Tata Sons board, was the only director to vote against the resolution seeking Chandrasekaran’s reappointment, sources said.
Noel Tata has opposed any listing of Tata Sons, a position he has maintained since at least February. His stance was reportedly among the conditions for his support for Chandrasekaran’s previous term renewal. Meanwhile, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which holds around 18 per cent in Tata Sons and is headed by Noel Tata’s father-in-law, has favoured a listing.
Chandrasekaran has led Tata Sons since 2017, when he succeeded Ratan Tata as chairman following the board’s removal of Cyrus Mistry. He was reappointed for a second five-year term in 2022.
His planned departure, which he communicated to the board in August, came after months of differences with Noel Tata over the proposed listing of Tata Sons and capital allocation for newer group ventures, including Air India, Tata Digital and BigBasket, several of which have reported losses.
The Tata Sons board had deferred a decision on Chandrasekaran’s third term in February after Noel Tata raised these concerns during a nearly three-hour meeting at Bombay House.
In anticipation of Chandrasekaran’s exit, Tata Sons had reportedly begun considering potential successors. Those named as contenders included Tata Steel chief executive TV Narendran, Tata Sons Group Chief Financial Officer Saurabh Agrawal and National Stock Exchange chief executive Ashish Chauhan, along with other internal candidates.
A potential Tata Sons listing could rank among the largest initial public offerings in India. A 1 per cent stake sale has been estimated at around Rs 15,000-20,000 crore, implying a valuation of nearly Rs 20 lakh crore, or about USD 230 billion, for Tata Sons.
The conglomerate holds controlling stakes in more than a dozen listed companies spanning sectors such as steel, automobiles, information technology, hospitality and aviation, in addition to a substantial portfolio of unliste
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