The big turn came on Sept. 17. Directors at Tata Sons, the group's parent, voted to give chairman Nataranjan Chandrasekaran another five years and to comply with a regulator's directive to pursue a public listing. Both moves went against objections from Noel Tata, who leads Tata Trusts, the charitable group that effectively controls Tata Sons with a combined 66% stake. The broader Tata Group clocks in at roughly $185 billion in value.
Venu Srinivasan, 73, the chairman emeritus of TVS Motor Co., is the longest-tenured director on the Tata Sons board and, alongside Noel, one of the two representatives from Tata Trusts. He began his career getting his hands dirty fixing cars in a garage he ran himself. Srinivasan had earlier backed Noel to take over as head of Tata Trusts in 2024.
About a year later, Noel and the other trustees unanimously endorsed renewing Srinivasan as vice chairman under a setup designed to grant trustees lifetime terms. That alignment unraveled right before the Sept. 17 meeting, when Srinivasan's vote undercut Noel's stance and effectively split the majority owner's position. Why he pivoted so sharply is not clear.
In April, Srinivasan filed a complaint with the state charity regulator about how many permanent trustees sit on Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), where he serves as a trustee. In a May 16 statement, the Trusts said they had no knowledge of his complaint before a directive from the regulator ordered SRTT to postpone a board meeting.
Because SRTT couldn't conduct routine board business, Tata Sons had to delay its annual shareholder meeting last month for lack of quorum. If limits on SRTT are lifted, Tata Trusts could line up the votes at a shareholder meeting to knock down two hotly debated proposals and stop Tata Sons from listing.
Shapoor Mistry has been pressing for an IPO far longer than this latest flare-up. His Shapoorji Pallonji Group is the largest minority owner of Tata Sons with an 18.4% stake, a legacy of ties between the two business families spanning generations. That holding is the debt-burdened SP Group's crown jewel, but it is hard to cash in unless Tata Sons lists or buys back shares.
A listing would help the SP Group unlock value and address expensive borrowings. Earlier this month, India's banking regulator rejected a request that would have let Tata Sons sidestep the mandatory listing, strengthening the case for going public. Family ties complicate it: Noel is married to Shapoor's sister, Aloo, while relations between the Mistrys and Tata Sons soured after Ratan Tata, Noel's late half-brother, removed Cyrus Mistry from the chairmanship in 2016, sparking years of litigation.
Amogh Kaloti, Maharashtra's Charity Commissioner, sits at a quiet but powerful chokepoint. His office has authority over the state's roster of registered charitable trusts, including Tata Trusts. A soft-spoken ex-district judge little known outside legal circles, Kaloti has closed only one of three Tata-related matters before him, tied to a 1989 share transfer.
Two remain unresolved: Srinivasan's complaint about SRTT's permanent trustees, and a separate governance grievance from former trustee Mehli Mistry, who was not reappointed late last year. In May, Kaloti's office instructed Tata Trusts to delay its board meeting and halt additional actions until an investigation into alleged violations is complete.
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Because of those curbs on SRTT, which holds 23.6% of Tata Sons, Tata Sons had to call off its AGM last month, and Noel Tata's clout has been muted since. As the fight looks set to move beyond the boardroom into shareholder balloting and potentially Indian courts, Kaloti's conclusions carry increasing weight.
Saurabh Agrawal still carries the polish of his investment-banking days. He came over from rival Aditya Birla in 2017 and now holds the post of chief financial officer at Tata Sons and also sits as a director on its fractious board. Seen as one of Chandrasekaran's closest lieutenants, Agrawal is in the thick of everything: the banking regulator's pressure to list, talks with the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the state of Tata Sons' balance sheet, and the board's tensions.
As CFO, he is central to the cash needs for big bets like semiconductors and iPhones, and to the knock-on effects of a possible listing. One major fault line between Noel and Chandrasekaran is Noel's push for tighter financial discipline; earlier this year he pressed Chandrasekaran on several loss-making units.
Jimmy Tata, Noel's low-profile half-brother and Ratan's younger sibling, is a trustee of SRTT and two smaller affiliated trusts. He has largely stayed out of Tata Group corporate skirmishes. A local media report says he did not attend last year's Tata Trusts board meeting where Mehli Mistry's reappointment did not go through.
If he chooses to engage, his vote could sway decisions inside the charities that control Tata Sons. Without Jimmy's backing, Noel's base looks more fragmented. Meanwhile, independent directors have further diluted family sway: Harish Manwani and Anita George voted to extend Chandrasekaran's term over Noel's objections.
The infighting at the Trusts and the charity regulator's probes are shaping the route to any listing. Because SRTT couldn't carry out normal board business, Tata Sons canceled its planned AGM last month for want of quorum. Should SRTT's restrictions be lifted, the Trusts could muster the votes at a shareholder meeting to defeat two contentious resolutions and block Tata Sons' listing.
Conversely, earlier this month India's banking regulator refused to grant Tata Sons an exemption from the mandatory listing requirement, nudging it nearer to public markets. Between the board's Sept. 17 votes and the pending inquiries led by Kaloti, the battle may now pivot to shareholders and possibly the courts.
For everyday investors, the outcome determines who captures the value of one of India's most important companies. A listing would give the SP Group a path to monetize its 18.4% stake, potentially shifting the balance of benefits. If Tata Sons stays private thanks to a unified Trusts vote, the current ownership structure remains intact.
It touches ownership, regulators, and the funding needed for new-age manufacturing that grew under Chandrasekaran's near-decade at the helm. Keep an eye on those unresolved complaints, any changes to SRTT's curbs, and whether Jimmy Tata steps in. That is where control of a nearly 160-year-old giant will be decided.
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