Noel Tata has been appointed to the board of Tata Sons, the Tata Group’s holding company, as a representative of Tata Trusts. This appointment, confirmed through an online resolution during a virtual Tata Sons meeting on the eve of Diwali, follows Tata’s recent succession as chairman of Tata Trusts, succeeding Ratan Tata, who passed away last month.
This appointment marks the first time since 2011 that a member of the Tata family will serve on the boards of both Tata Sons and Tata Trusts, which holds a 66% stake in Tata Sons. Currently, Tata also serves as a trustee on the boards of Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
Alongside him, Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS, and Vijay Singh, a former bureaucrat in the Ministry of Defence, serve as Tata Trusts nominees on the Tata Sons board. Together with Mehli Mistry, these four comprise the executive committee governing Tata Trusts.
The Tata Sons board now consists of nine members, including chairman N Chandrasekaran and three non-executive directors, Tata, Srinivasan, and Singh. Ratan Tata, in his time, held the dual role of chairman for both Tata Sons and Tata Trusts. However, the board amended its articles in 2022 to prevent any single individual from holding both positions concurrently.
In his previous roles, Noel Tata has been instrumental in leading Tata Group companies. As chairman of Trent since 2014, he grew the retail division’s revenue by 430%, reaching Rs 12,375 crore by FY24. Since taking over as chairman of Voltas in 2017, he also doubled the company’s revenue to Rs 12,481 crore.
