By Aditya Kalra
Aug 12 (Reuters) – Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran has resigned, but will complete his current term at the principal holding company of India’s $400-billion Tata Group, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The source declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. Chandrasekaran’s term is due to run until February.
Tata Sons controls more than 30 companies in the conglomerate, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Motors and Air India, but is in turn 66% owned by Tata Trusts, the group’s charitable arm.
In February, Tata Sons postponed a decision on reappointing Chandrasekaran as chairman after Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, opposed the move, Reuters has previously reported.
Noel Tata was seeking several conditions, including a commitment that Tata Sons would never be listed — a commitment that Chandrasekaran was unwilling to give, a source has said.
The two sides have also clashed over board representation.
Tata Sons did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Chandrasekaran could not be reached for comment.
Chandrasekaran joined the Tata group in 1987, became TCS’ CEO in 2009 before taking over as Tata Sons chair in 2017.
Over the past year, the Tata conglomerate has had to grapple with regulatory scrutiny of Air India following a fatal crash, pricing pressure at TCS and a cyberattack at Jaguar Land Rover that disrupted production and weighed on Britain’s economic output.
Feuds between Tata Sons and Tata Trusts have roiled the storied Indian conglomerate before, most famously in 2016 when Tata Sons’ board sacked then-chairman Cyrus Mistry after he fell out with group patriarch Ratan Tata over corporate governance issues, triggering a bitter legal battle that lasted several years.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Chris Thomas in Mexico City; Writing by Chandini Monnappa; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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