It’s ironic that the man, who got one of the most high-profile jobs in corporate India in 2024 and whose moves are expected to grab the headlines in the new year and beyond, once famously said that what comes to his “rescue is the fact that he never speaks to anybody”. To be fair, Noel Tata’s shyness isn’t restricted to the media alone; he also shuns the CEO cocktail circuit and has usually been the last in and first out at corporate dos.
It is to this unassuming, minimally-dressed, soft-spoken, and low-profile person that Tata Trusts turned to after the passing of Ratan Tata in October this year. That’s also an irony as it’s common knowledge now that Ratan Tata cited Noel’s “lack of exposure” as the reason why he didn’t find him suitable for the top job at Tata Sons in 2011. He missed yet another opportunity after Cyrus Mistry’s removal when the group opted for N Chandrasekaran.
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But Noel is now the chairman of Tata Trusts, which controls a 66% stake in the holding company, and has a considerable say over its functioning, courtesy two moves made by his illustrious half-brother. Due to its charitable status, Tata Trusts earlier lacked direct voting rights and was overseen by the charity commissioner. However, in 2000, Ratan Tata successfully advocated for a government amendment that granted the trusts full voting control. Before he retired in December 2012, Ratan Tata also ensured that the trusts had tightened their grip over Tata Sons. The Articles of Association relating to the appointment and removal of future chairpersons were revised, so that all appointments and removals of directors had to be cleared by the trusts.
The new chairman of Tata Trusts, however, has done enough to remove the earlier perception of “lack of exposure”. His last executive assignment was the managing director of Tata International, the trading and distribution arm of the Tata Group, between August 2010 and November 2021, where he grew the company from a turnover of $500 million to over $3 billion. Prior to that, he served as the MD of Trent for more than 11 years, where he oversaw the growth from a one-store operation in 1998 to nearly 1,000 stores across formats. Its shares have surged more than 6,000% in the past decade.
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