Noel Tata kicks off hunt for next Tata Sons chief

MUMBAI: Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata is understood to have informally kicked off the search process for Tata Sons' eighth chairman, meeting former HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh at the Taj Wellington Mews Residences in Mumbai on Wednesday, according to people aware of the meeting.The meeting, which also included another Trusts trustee and was held after Tuesday's adjourned Tata Sons annual general meeting, is understood to have focused on the proposed succession committee that will oversee the selection of the next chairman of the $185 billion Tata Group's holding company.The committee is required under Tata Sons' Articles of Association and will lead the search for a successor to N Chandrasekaran, who has decided to step down when his current chairmanship term ends in February 2027.It could not be established whether Parekh was offered a role on the succession panel. Noel Tata's office did not respond to a request for comment, while Parekh could not be reached for comment.Parekh is no stranger to the Tata Group. During his years leading HDFC, the financial services group maintained significant business ties with the Tata conglomerate. He also served on the board of Indian Hotels Company, the Tata Group's flagship hospitality company. During the boardroom battle that followed Cyrus Mistry's removal as Tata Sons chairman in 2016, Parekh was among those who publicly backed Mistry. Under Tata Sons' Articles, the succession committee must comprise five members, three nominated by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), and two selected by the Tata Sons board.One of the board representatives is expected to be an existing Tata Sons director, such as independent directors Harish Manwani or Anita George, while the other can be an external independent member.The three trust nominees need not necessarily be SDTT's and SRTT's representatives on the Tata Sons board, according to the articles. The committee's formation faces a hurdle, though. The Articles require the three trust nominees to be "jointly nominated by SDTT and SRTT", meaning they cannot be appointed by SDTT alone. With SRTT under a regulatory restriction, it remains unclear how the formal process will move forward.The search committee model has been used before at Tata Sons. Cyrus Mistry was selected in 2012 through a similar process to succeed Ratan Tata. Following Mistry's removal in 2016, a five-member committee comprising Ratan Tata, Trusts trustee Venu Srinivasan, former Trusts trustee Amit Chandra, ex-Tata Sons director Ronen Sen and Prof Kumar Bhattacharyya was tasked with identifying a successor, eventually selecting Chandrasekaran.The succession exercise also comes against the backdrop of a long-standing governance question at the Tata Group: the balance of power between Tata Sons' executive leadership and Trusts, its controlling shareholder. The issue came to the fore during Mistry's ouster in 2016 and has resurfaced with Chandrasekaran's decision to step down in 2027.Get the latest Business News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.