Noel Tata likely to join Tata Sons board as third Tata Trust nominee, say sources

Sources have indicated that Tata Trusts board is expected to meet soon to decide on nominating a third representative to Tata Sons board. Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh are the current Tata Trusts nominees.

A comment from Tata Trusts is awaited.

Tata Sons board members currently include N Chandrasekaran, Ajay Piramal, Ralf Speth and Harish Manwani. Other members on the board are Saurabh Agrawal, Leo Puri and Anita Marangoly George.

Noel Tata, appointed as the chairman of Tata Trusts last week, is also the chairman of other Tata Group companies including Trent, Tata Investment Corp and Tata International and the Vice Chairman of Tata Steel.

Noel Naval Tata took on the chairmanship of Tata Trusts on October 11, 2024, succeeding titan Ratan Tata, who passed on October 9 evening.

His appointment sparked questions about his future involvement on the boards of several Tata Group companies.

Also Read | ‘Noel represents everything Tata stands for,’ says experts

Given Tata Group’s strict adherence to governance principles, particularly around potential conflicts of interest outlined in their articles of association (AoA), there is speculation over whether he might need to step down from some of these roles.

Apart from his roles in the aforementioned Tata companies, he holds director roles in subsidiaries like Trent Hypermarket Private Ltd and Inditex Trent Retail India.

Outside the Tata Group, he is affiliated with organisations such as the Retailers Association of India, The Cricket Club of India, Satnam Developers and Finance, and Landmark Ltd (Part IX) (a real estate firm).

Also Read | Is the Tata Group’s next big focus on consumer business under Noel Tata? Experts weigh in