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Informist, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026

 

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--Tata Trusts: Asked Tata Sons to explore options other than listing 
--Tata Trusts: Must save Tata model, didn't agree to list Tata Sons 
--Tata Trusts: Must immediately assess options other than listing Tata Sons 
--Noel Tata: Tata model has stood the test of time for over a century 
--Noel Tata: Listing Tata Sons will destroy character of Tata model 

 

MUMBAI – Tata Trusts, which owns a 66% stake in Tata Sons, is against the listing of the latter as it would "destroy" the character of the "Tata model", which has stood the test of time for over a century, its chairman Noel Tata told the board of Tata Sons at its board meeting on Thursday. Tata Sons board Thursday decided to initiate steps to comply with "applicable" guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India.

 

The central bank has asked Tata Sons to list on the bourses as part of its scale-based regulation framework for non-banking financial companies, under which it classified Tata Sons as a systematically important upper-layer NBFC. RBI over the weekend rejected Tata Sons' request to surrender its registration as a core investment company.

 

Noel Tata said the RBI asked Tata Sons to take necessary actions to ensure full compliance but did not ask it to list. "It prescribes no particular step, and it does not say that the company is in breach. What its legal effect is, and what it requires of this company and by when, are questions upon which this board has formed no view," Noel Tata said.
 

Tata Trusts said it will convene a separate board meeting of Tata Sons to consider and assess the appropriate course of action. "The board agreed that all available options, and not listing alone, should be thoroughly explored and assessed on an immediate basis, with the findings and recommendations presented to the board," Tata Trusts said. 

 

In his retort, Noel Tata questioned whether analysts and their institutions would understand what Tata Sons stands for. "A listed Tata Sons would be accountable to institutional and foreign shareholders whose legitimate interest is financial return. It is doubtful that such shareholders would sanction the deployment of capital to rescue a group company in distress, or the funding of a greenfield venture whose returns lie 15 years away," Tata said.

 

If Tata Sons is listed, Noel Tata said, the rights of the philanthropic group Tata Trusts as majority shareholders stand to be "seriously impaired". "Its (Tata Trusts') capital has repeatedly been placed at risk for reasons no analyst would have endorsed and from which the country has nonetheless benefited. That is not sentiment. It is the operating model of this house," he said.

 

The role that Tata Trusts has played in building the country through setting up steel plants, an airline, institutions of science and medicine, and newer areas such as semiconductors requires patience which is measured in "decades rather than quarters," Noel Tata said. "No listed holding company in India has been asked to carry that load, and it is worth asking whether a listed one could," he said.

 

Tata Sons must explore all avenues and possibilities to move out of the regulatory framework which requires mandatory listing, he added.   

 

WHAT NEXT

Tata Trusts has asked Tata Sons to make a detailed representation to the RBI and seek an opportunity to be heard before the central bank takes any action. "No such hearing seems to have been given and the regulator's decision of 11 September 2026 thus does not abide by the notions of fairness and natural justice," Noel Tata said.

 

Noel Tata said the RBI, in its rejection, has not called for a listing, which leaves other options open. "The company can consider restructuring, for example... the regulations themselves contemplate other options," Noel Tata said.

 

If a listing is the only way out, Tata Sons must have three years to comply with the requirement, starting this month. "Under RBI's Scale Based Regulatory framework, a company identified as an upper layer non-banking financial company is ordinarily allowed three years within which to list," he said. 

 

"An offering made in haste, into a market presented with a consolidated picture that has not been allowed to mature, would serve neither the company, nor its shareholders, nor even the shareholder that seeks liquidity, nor the standing of the Indian capital markets," he said.   End

 

Reported by Anand JC

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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