Tata Chemicals, Tata Investment shares drop up to 8%: Why Tata stocks are falling today

Tata group stocks such as Tata Chemicals Ltd, Tata Investment Corp Ltd and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd  tanked 7 per cent in  Friday's trade after Tata Trust, the controlling shareholders of Tata Sons, called the board's reappointment of Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran as 'illegal'.

Tata Chemicals fell 7.9 per cent to Rs 718.70 apiece on NSE. Tata Investment also declined 4.35 per cent to Rs 688 apiece. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd  dropped 3.02 per cent to Rs 305 apiece. Tata Steel edged 0.40 per cent lower at Rs 186.55. Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) slipped 0.23 per cent to Rs 1,011.40.

As per Bloomberg, Tata Chemicals has 2.53 per cent stake in Tata Sons. Tata Investment Corp Ltd  held 0.08 per cent stake. Tata Steel (3.06 per cent), Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd (3.06 per cent), Tata Power Company Ltd (1.65 per cent), Indian Hotels (1.11 per cent) and TCPL (0.43 per cent) also held stakes in the company, Bloomberg report qupting a DRChoksey FinServ report. In total, seven listed Tata group companies held 11.94 per cent stake in Tata Sons.

Chandrasekaran's current term ends on February 20, 2027. He had told the board in August that he did not intend to seek another term. Tata Trusts reiterated its position that Chandrasekaran's decision not to seek reappointment had been accepted and "has attained finality". The Trusts also called the reappointment of Chandrasekaran "illegal", according to its statement.

What Noel Tata says 

In a statement to the Tata Sons board, Noel Tata said Chandrasekaran's August 12 communication was his "own decision" and had been "freely taken and clearly expressed".

Noel Tata said the letter was subsequently made public without prior deliberation with Tata Trusts, which hold approximately 66 per cent of Tata Sons' equity. He said the Trusts had accepted Chandrasekaran's decision and formally asked Tata Sons to constitute a selection committee under its Articles of Association to appoint his successor.

"A resolution now for re-appointment moved at this meeting would therefore ask this Board to set aside three things at once: the Chairman's own stated decision, the acceptance of that decision by the majority shareholder, and the further process which that shareholder has asked this Company to set in motion," Noel Tata said.

He warned that a decision on the chairmanship could face "serious legal challenge" if Chandrasekaran's position as a director was later found to be in doubt.

What Shapoorji Mistry says 

Mistry welcomed the RBI decision wholeheartedly, saying let not allow listing to be a point of division, Bloomberg reported. He said Tata Sons listing is a 'social and moral imperative" and the objective is a stronger Tata institution, as per Bloomberg.