Tata Group defers N Chandrasekaran’s re-appointment as Chairman: Report
February 24 (Reuters) – India’s salt-to-software Tata Group has postponed its decision to reappoint N Chandrasekaran as chairman for another five years, CNBC-TV18 reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
Chandrasekaran, 62, joined the Tata Group in 1987 and rose to become CEO of Tata Consultancy Services in 2009, before taking over as chairman of Tata Sons in February 2017.
According to a CNBC-TV18 report, during the board meeting, Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata raised the issue of losses in certain group companies and asked Chandrasekaran to undertake in writing that Tata Sons would never be listed.
According to the report, several board members supported Chandrasekaran, arguing that losses at a group company should not overshadow the group’s overall performance or the chairman’s contribution over the years.
While some executives called for a vote, Chandrasekaran called for a postponement, CNBC-TV18 reported.
Tata Sons did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Tata Trusts holds a 66% stake in Tata Sons, which gives it the power to take important strategic decisions. Tata Sons, on the other hand, manages 30 companies in consumer goods, automobiles and airlines, including Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Air India.
More than a year after the death of family patriarch Ratan Tata, the dispute within the Tata Trusts has raised fears of a repeat of a bitter public row between the charity and Tata Sons in 2016 that damaged the reputation of India’s most established group.
Founded in 1868 in Mumbai by Parsi industrialist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the Tata Group remained under the leadership of the Tata family until 2012, when Ratan Tata handed over the chairmanship to Cyrus Mistry of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
In 2016, tensions between Tata and Mistry led to Tata Sons removing Mistry as chairman. Mistry passed away in 2022, but his family’s company, Shapoorji Pallonji, continues to hold 18% stake in Tata Sons.
Following Ratan Tata’s death in 2024, his half-brother Noel Tata was appointed head of Tata Trusts.
Over the past year, Chandrasekaran has faced a series of challenges, including intense regulatory scrutiny of Air India following a fatal crash, price pressure at jewel Tata Consultancy Services and a cyberattack at Jaguar Land Rover that disrupted production and damaged Britain’s economic output. (Reporting by Chandini Monnappa and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
