The Tata–Mistry saga refuses to fade. Nine years after the dramatic boardroom coup that ousted Cyrus Mistry, tensions between the Tata Group and its oldest partner, the Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) family, continue to simmer—this time over something as basic, yet consequential, as value and control. This is the focus of the cover story by Krishna Gopalan in this issue.
Burdened by debt and eager to unlock capital, the SP Group has revived its call for the listing of the holding company Tata Sons. Their argument is simple: if the Tatas won’t buy their 18.4% stake at a fair price, then let the market decide. After all, this is no private-equity exit; the Mistrys have been part of the Tata story for nearly a century.
However, Tata Trusts is not at all keen to list Tata Sons, which itself holds stakes in over 30 major companies, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Motors, and Tata Steel, among others. Their line is clear: the Articles of Association (AoA) of Tata Sons do not permit a public listing, and the current structure works just fine the way it is.
For the SP Group, it is a classic squeeze—they cannot sell freely, can’t cash in on the potential windfall, and cannot find a buyer for an unlisted stake without the Trusts’ blessing. This divergence of intent has reignited old tensions between control and shareholder rights.
Meanwhile, the market performance of key Tata firms—from Tata Motors to behemoth TCS and even the commodity businesses—shows that this is not a season of extraordinary value creation. The SP Group’s financial stress only adds pressure to the mix. When interest costs pinch, patience wears thin in boardrooms.
Hovering above all this is the quiet Noel Tata, now Chairman of Tata Trusts for a year since Ratan Tata’s passing. Noel’s rise was long anticipated but long delayed. Ratan had overlooked him for Cyrus. Now, Noel presides over the Trusts, the ultimate power centre, but with clipped wings. Thanks to the 2022 amendment to Tata Sons’ AoA, he cannot head both the trust and the holding company.
That means real executive power remains with N. Chandrasekaran, whose term as Tata Sons chairman is proposed to be extended till 2032. It is a balanced structure, but some wrinkles are now public. This also means Noel’s Tata surname does not automatically translate into the same sort of influence as his predecessor Tatas. The group today runs more like a professional enterprise than a family one. It is the most widespread conglomerate in India, though perhaps a little less centralised than in Ratan’s heyday.
The question then is not whether Noel Tata is capable—he is calm and composed according to those who know him. The question is how will he unite the trustees and bolster the legacy of the group with the same authority his half-brother once commanded?
More importantly, can he successfully resolve the differences with the SP Group and provide them a fair exit?
@szarabi
