Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Sons, the holding company of India's largest conglomerate, has announced he will step down after his term ends next February. The move follows months of boardroom drama over the group's leadership and the possible listing of the holding company.
Noel Tata, half-brother of the late Ratan Tata, is widely expected to take charge. One investor told the Financial Times: "This is very much the beginning of the Noel Tata era." Shares in Tata's listed companies, including its IT outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services, fell as investors weighed the uncertainty.
Noel Tata became chair of Tata Trusts, which majority-owns the holding company, after Ratan Tata's death in 2024. He opposed listing the holding company, arguing that staying private allowed more freedom for "long-term strategic bets" and to conserve the company's "founding ethos and desire to serve India". Critics suggest his real motive was to exert more control over succession, including for his son Neville and daughters Leah and Maya.
People close to the family dispute those claims. Noel Tata is described by The Indian Express as known for "his quiet demeanour, discretion and aversion to public attention", having built his reputation through steady performance, including developing the retail arm Trent.