The Tata group leadership crisis has deepened with Tata Sons’ board on Thursday voting to give N Chandrasekaran another five-year term as executive chairman. This has overturned his earlier decision to step down. But Tata Trusts, the conglomerate’s majority shareholder, has rejected the resolution almost immediately, deepening a leadership tussle that has been playing out for more than a year.The decision emerged from a board meeting that lasted nearly three hours.Chandrasekaran, 63, had indicated last month that he did not want another term after his current tenure expires on February 20, 2027. The move followed repeated attempts by the board to reach a unanimous decision on extending his tenure.The board turned again to Chandra, as he is known, after the Reserve Bank of India rejected Tata Sons’ request to avoid a stock-market listing.
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Tata Sons said in a statement that “Chandra acceded to the Board’s request to reconsider his decision”. The board subsequently “resolved by a majority vote to re-appoint him as Executive Chairman for a further term of five years upon the expiry of his current tenure”.Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, voted against the proposal. The Trusts, along with affiliated trusts, control about 66% of Tata Sons. Despite his opposition, the resolution passed with a majority.“The Board also resolved to initiate steps to comply with the applicable RBI Guidelines and will seek guidance from RBI, Tata Trusts and other stakeholders on applicable compliance requirements,” Tata Sons said.Tata Trusts, however, disputed the validity of the decision.What is the structure of the Tata group companies? What is Tata Sons and Tata Trusts? Let’s take a look:
What is the Tata Group?
Founded nearly 160 years ago by Jamsetji Tata, the Tata Group is India’s oldest conglomerate. Its businesses cover a wide range of industries, including automobiles, steel, software, airlines and hotels.The group has 32 companies, 26 of which are publicly listed. Together, they generated around $170 billion in revenue in the 12 months ended March 2026, according to a Bloomberg report.
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Tata Group is also expanding into high-tech manufacturing. Along with plans to increase production of Apple Inc. iPhones, the group is investing in semiconductor manufacturing.Tata Group has a presence across a wide range of industries. In aviation, Air India and Air India Express, in the auto sector Tata Motors has businesses spanning commercial vehicles, passenger cars and electric vehicles, with Jaguar Land Rover and the proposed acquisition of Iveco adding to its international presence.Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the IT sector is an important source of dividends for Tata Sons, while Tata Steel has operations in India and Europe. Tata Power’s portfolio covers power generation, transmission and distribution, along with renewables, solar manufacturing and EV charging.The group’s consumer businesses include Titan, Trent, Tata Consumer Products and Voltas, with brands such as Tanishq, Westside, Zudio, Croma, BigBasket and Tetley. Its joint venture with Starbucks has more than 500 outlets across 80 cities.Tata Electronics is developing semiconductor facilities in Gujarat and Assam. In financial services, Tata Capital, Tata AIA and Tata AIG operate across lending, wealth management, investment banking and insurance. Tata Communications has operations in more than 190 countries, while Tata Play offers pay-TV and streaming services.
What are Tata Sons and Tata Trusts?
Tata Sons is the holding company for the group’s businesses, including Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, which owns Jaguar Land Rover. It also serves as a platform for newer ventures such as Air India, battery manufacturer Agratas, Tata Electronics and Tata Digital, which operates online grocery service Big Basket.Tata Trusts, a group of 13 charities, controls around 66% of Tata Sons, while Tata Group companies own about 13%.The Trusts are headed by Noel Tata, who assumed the role in October 2024 following the death of his half-brother Ratan Tata, the group’s patriarch and one of India’s most prominent business executives.Tata Sons recorded revenue of Rs 42,367 crore ($4.46 billion) for the year ended March 2026.
The Trusts That Own Tata Sons
Who owns Tata Group, and who runs it?
No individual member of the Tata family owns the group outright. Its ownership is largely held through charitable trusts established by different generations of the Tata family.These philanthropic trusts collectively own about two-thirds of Tata Sons, which is the main investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies.Two trusts account for the largest share of this ownership: the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT). Together, they hold 51.54% of Tata Sons, giving them an outright majority.Noel Tata is chairman of Tata Trusts, the umbrella body under which the main Tata charitable trusts operate. However, he does not personally own the Tata Sons shares held by the trusts. Those assets belong to the charitable trusts and are managed through their respective boards of trustees.Tata Sons sits at the centre of the commercial structure as the group’s principal investment holding company and promoter, while individual Tata companies are governed by their own boards.
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Tata.com describes the arrangement this way: “Tata Sons is principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. 66% of share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, and art and culture. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors.”SDTT and SRTT together own 51.54% of Tata Sons. When the holdings of the other shareholder trusts are included, the charitable trusts’ combined ownership comes to roughly two-thirds, or about 66%.Separately, M K Tata Trust owns 2,421 Tata Sons shares, according to a 2024 Income Tax Appellate Tribunal judgment. Those shares were transferred to the trust as corpus when it was established in 1959.Tata’s public description of its ownership structure therefore rounds the combined holding of the philanthropic trusts in Tata Sons to 66%.
Tata Sons Listing
Tata Sons voted to follow the required steps for listing of Tata Sons. The board agreed to proceed with the listing of Tata Sons, the holding company of the group’s salts-to-software-and-cars businesses.“The Board also resolved to initiate steps to comply with the applicable RBI Guidelines and will seek guidance from RBI, Tata Trusts and other stakeholders on applicable compliance requirements,” Tata Sons said in a statement.The move comes days after RBI rejected Tata Sons’ request to surrender its Certificate of Registration to operate as a shadow bank. It directed the company to follow the regulatory framework governing top non-bank finance companies, under which a public listing is required.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s move to step down in August
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, widely known as Chandra, became the first person from outside the Tata family to head Tata Sons. Ratan Tata selected him for the role after Chandra had spent three decades at Tata Consultancy Services, including eight years as its chief executive. He turned the IT company into India’s most valuable enterprise and established a reputation as a technocrat and a reliable pair of hands.When Chandra took charge at Bombay House in February 2017, the group’s companies had a combined market capitalisation of Rs 8.4 lakh crore. That figure has since climbed to more than Rs 27 lakh crore.
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The chairman nevertheless faced increasing pressure over the past year as the group dealt with several challenges. These included a deadly Air India crash, a cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover that was severe enough to affect the UK’s gross domestic product, and the growing impact of AI on Tata Consultancy Services. Chandra was also tasked with delivering on a major technology ambition, developing India’s first homegrown semiconductor chips.Chandra announced on August 12 that he would leave as Tata Sons chairman when his current tenure ends in February. The announcement came after months of deadlock over his reappointment.Now, with the Tata Sons voting to reappoint Chandra and Tata Trusts calling the move illegal, the battle seems to be getting lengthier.
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Tata Trusts opposes reappointment decision
The Trusts said Chandrasekaran’s August 12 decision “has been duly accepted and has attained finality”. It pointed out that it had already asked Tata Sons to constitute a selection committee to find his successor in accordance with the company’s Articles of Association.According to the Trusts, Thursday’s vote “was a legal nullity”. It argued that the Articles require both directors nominated by the Trusts to support a resolution concerning the chairmanship. Since Noel Tata voted against the proposal, the Trusts said “it was rendered legally void and without any basis”.The Trusts also said Noel Tata had provided the board with a legal opinion from former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud backing its interpretation, but that the opinion “was not taken note of by the Board”.Noel Tata raised another objection in a detailed communication to the board. He argued that the reappointment issue itself was premature because his position as a director remained unresolved after a general meeting “was not able to proceed for want of quorum”.Any decision taken in those circumstances, he warned, “would be open to serious legal challenge by any shareholder who chose to bring it”.Noel Tata also cautioned the board against linking Chandrasekaran’s reappointment dispute to the separate issue of Tata Sons’ pending listing status with the RBI.“It would not serve this company for a regulatory development to determine the outcome of a succession process,” he said, arguing that “the page has turned” on Chandrasekaran’s earlier decision to leave.
