Tata Sons reappoints N Chandrasekaran as Chairman for 5 years; Tata Trusts calls it illegal

Tata Sons on Thursday said it has reappointed N Chandrasekaran as Chairman for a fresh fiveyear term after he reconsidered his earlier decision a move that Tata Trusts termed illegal according to news agency PTIChandrasekaran last month had ruled out a reappointment when his current term ends in February after the Tata Sons board could not reach a resolution on extending his tenureBoard reappoints Chandrasekaran for 5 yearsThe Board received from Tata Trusts their unanimous resolution dated July 28 2025 expressing their appreciation of the Chairman of Tata Sons N Chandrasekaran Chandra for his stewardship of the Group from 2017 onwards In recognition of these efforts the Tata Trusts resolved that he be reappointed as Executive Chairman for a further term of five years upon the expiry of his current term it said in its official statementAt the meeting of the Board on September 17 2026 Chandra acceded to the Boardrsquos request to reconsider his decision The Board thereafter resolved by a majority vote to reappoint him as Executive Chairman for a further term of five years upon the expiry of his current tenure it addedTata Trusts calls it illegalTata Trusts which along with affiliated trusts controls about 66 per cent of Tata Sons maintained that the resolution to reappoint Chandrasekaran as Chairman of Tata Sons is illegal position reiterated at the Tata Sons Board meeting by Tata Trusts Chairman Noel TataNoel Tata chairman of Tata Trusts voted against Chandrasekarans reappointment but the resolution passed by a majority vote of the board PTI sources said adding that Tata Trusts could contest the decisionBoard agrees to move ahead with Tata Sons listingTata Sons board during its threehour meeting also proposed to go ahead with the listing of the company as mandated by the Reserve Bank of IndiaThe 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 statementReserve Bank of India RBI had rejected Tata Sons application to surrender its core investment company registrationThe rejection was conveyed in a letter received by Tata Sons company secretary and chief financial officer thus closing out an application the company filed in March 2024 seeking to deregister as a nonbanking financial company as per PTITata Sons the holding company of the USD 180billion revenue Tata conglomerate had sought deregistration in March 2024 after becoming debt free to avoid the listing requirement that applies to upper layer non banking financial companies NBFCs However the regulators decision means the holding company faces the mandatory listingThe Shapoorji Pallonji Group which holds about 18 per cent of Tata Sons is backing the listing to unlock value from its stake and support its own debt repaymentNoel Tata however wants the holding company of the Tata Group to remain private but if the listing materialises it could rank among the largest IPOs in Indian historyAccording to PTI even a 1 per cent stake sale would be valued at an estimated Rs 15000ndash20000 crore implying an overall valuation near Rs 20 lakh crore roughly USD 230 billion for the conglomerate which holds controlling stakes in more than a dozen listed companies across steel automobiles software services hospitality and aviationWith inputs from PTI