Tata Sons’ crucial June 12 board meeting: Here's what to look out for

The board of Tata Sons will meet on Friday, June 12. This comes after the last one held on May 26, where the CEOs of Air India, Tata Electronics and Tata Digital made presentations to the board. Here’s what makes the upcoming meeting so important:

Loss-making ventures: All the said businesses are in the red and Noel Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts, has already expressed concern. Easily, the biggest challenge is that of Air India, a business the Tata Group bought from the government. Singapore Airlines, that holds a 25% stake in Air India, put out its annual report last month. It showed Air India’s losses at about $2.6 billion (over Rs 25,000 crore). Speaking of other Tata Group loss-making businesses, other Tata Sons board members have said these are long-gestation in nature and to that extent, must be given time.

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N Chandrasekaran’s reappointment: Chandra, as he is known, took charge as Tata Sons’ Chairman in February 2017 and his current term comes to end next February. All eyes will be on that, with more than one possibility existing – a five-year term or a reduced two-year term till he turns 65. It is important since the succession issue needs to be outlined to ensure stability and send out the right message to investors and shareholders.

Listing of Tata Sons: This is the holding company of the conglomerate. There is a clear divergence of opinion here, with Tata Trusts board members, Venu Srinivasan, Chairman Emeritus, TVS Motor and Vijay Singh, former Defence Secretary, backing it, while Noel Tata not in favour of it. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has classified Tata Sons as an upper-layer non-banking financial company (NBFC) and that mandates a public listing.

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Tata Sons’ FY26 numbers: This will reflect the extent of losses in the big-ticket capex ventures. Given Noel Tata’s existing concerns, there is a good chance that a debate around this will be prolonged. Inevitably, it will have a bearing on other key decisions, which could include Chandrasekaran’s reappointment as Tata Sons’ Chairman

The Tata Trusts piece: Tata Trusts holds 66% of Tata Sons and all is not well between the trustees. One-third of Tata Sons’ board is accounted for by the trusts – Noel Tata and Srinivasan are its nominees now. In the last few weeks, Srinivasan had to step off two smaller trusts, even as his reappointment on two key trusts – Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust that hold over 50% of Tata Trusts – is not done yet. If that goes not take place, his position on Tata Sons’ board could well be questioned.

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In a more recent development, a former trustee, Mehli Mistry and a close confidant of Ratan Tata, has questioned the annual commission received by Noel Tata from Tata Sons. According to media reports, this is to the extent of Rs 1.42 crore and Mistry wants it to be returned to Tata Trusts.