The recent interaction, being seen as a courtesy call, was meant to set the agenda for the Tuesday board meeting that will carry on from where the previous Tata Sons board meeting had ended inconclusively on February 24.
There was no official confirmation from Tata Trusts or Tata Sons on a meeting between Noel Tata and N Chandrasekaran.
The chairman of Tata Trusts (which has around 66 per cent shareholding in Tata Sons) had raised questions around the financials of group companies such as Air India, Tata Digital and Tata Electronics at the February meeting. Noel Tata, who’s one of the two nominee directors on Tata Sons board, reportedly linked the profitability of several Tata entities to Chandrasekaran getting a third term.
Ensuring that Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, remains unlisted was another point raised by Noel Tata at that meeting.
The May 26 meeting is critical because it is expected to set the tone for future leadership of the Tata group at a time when the focus of the conglomerate is on capital-intensive high-tech businesses including artificial intelligence, defence, electronics, manufacturing and semiconductors.
Along with a discussion on the businesses of some of the Tata entities which are yet to make profit, the upcoming meeting is likely to take a view on the renewal of Chandra’s tenure. The second five-year term of Chandra, 62, as executive chairman of Tata Sons is until February 2027.
Tata Trusts had passed a resolution in July 2025 endorsing a third five-year term for Chandra as executive chairman of Tata Sons.
A discussion on listing of Tata Sons is also learnt to be on the agenda of the May 26 board meeting. The July 2025 resolution of Tata Trusts had also backed the proposal to keep Tata Sons unlisted. More recently, the two vice-chairmen of Tata Trusts—Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh—favoured listing of Tata Sons in media interviews citing the need to invest in capital intensive futuristic businesses of the group.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), meanwhile, is expected to give a verdict on Tata Sons listing shortly. The RBI classified Tata Sons as an upper layer NBFC (non-banking finance company) in September 2022, mandating it to become a public listed entity within three years. In 2024, Tata Sons became a debt-free company while seeking an exemption from listing. After that, the RBI has not given any direction to Tata Sons on listing but has indicated recently that it may not be able to deregister as an upper layer NBFC because it has indirect access to public funds through its group companies.
In its latest report, InGovern Research, a corporate governance research and advisory firm, has reiterated the need for listing of firms such as Tata Sons. ‘’Tata Sons should be required to move toward a listed structure in a time-bound and regulatory-compliant manner. It remains the only CIC (Core Investment Company) that is non-compliant with the RBI regulations,’’ it noted.
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