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Indian tycoon Noel Tata stepped down from the boards of six Tata Group companies on Nov. 12, the day he turned 70, ending more than two decades at the head of some of the group's best-known listed businesses under its retirement rule for non-executive directors.
He gave up the chairmanships of retailer Trent Ltd., air-conditioner maker Voltas Ltd., Tata Investment Corp. and trading arm Tata International Ltd., as well as his posts as vice chairman of Tata Steel Ltd. and jewelry and watch maker Titan Co. Tata Group governance guidelines require non-executive, non-independent directors to retire at 70.
Bahram Vakil, a co-founder of Mumbai law firm AZB & Partners, took over as chairman of Trent and Tata Investment. Sunil D'Souza, chief executive officer of Tata Consumer Products Ltd., became chairman of Voltas. T.V. Narendran, chief executive of Tata Steel, takes the chair at Tata International.
Chairman emeritus
Tata Investment said in a filing that Noel Tata retired as chairman and director at the close of business on Nov. 11 and that its board had named him chairman emeritus from Nov. 12. He joined the investment company's board on June 9, 2004, and became chairman on June 24, 2010.
"Under his stewardship, the Company has achieved significant milestones and delivered sustained growth," the company said. It also appointed Abizer Diwanji, founder of advisory firm NeoStrat Advisors LLP and a former head of financial services at KPMG and EY, as an independent director for five years.
Trent is the company most closely tied to Noel Tata. He spent about 26 years shaping it into one of India's largest fashion retailers, built on the Westside department-store chain and the low-priced Zudio brand, and its market value now runs to about ₹2 lakh crore ($21 billion).
Still in charge of the trusts
The board exits do not loosen his hold on the group. Noel Tata remains chairman of Tata Trusts, the charitable foundations that together own about 66% of Tata Sons Pvt., the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, and he keeps his seat on the Tata Sons board as a nominee of the trusts.
That position puts him at the center of a dispute over the future of Tata Sons. On Sept. 17 the holding company's board voted 4-1 to give Chairman N. Chandrasekaran a third five-year term from February 2027 and to begin steps toward a stock market listing. Noel Tata cast the dissenting vote, while fellow trust nominee Venu Srinivasan, the TVS Motor Co. chairman emeritus, voted in favor.
Speaking in New Delhi on Nov. 14, two days after his retirement from the operating boards, Noel Tata said a listing would "change the Tata way" and could put profit ahead of philanthropy. "The owner cannot die, the owner cannot be bought and the owner cannot retire," he said of the trusts' control.
From Trent to Bombay House
Noel Tata is the half-brother of Ratan Tata, who led the group for more than two decades. He was named chairman of Tata Trusts in October 2024, days after Ratan Tata's death, and joined the Tata Sons board later that month. He is married to Aloo Mistry, a sister of the late Cyrus Mistry, the former Tata Sons chairman whose family's Shapoorji Pallonji Group is the largest minority shareholder in Tata Sons with 18.37%.
Figures were converted at ₹95.2 to the dollar.
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