Business & Finance
Noel Tata Urges Discipline in Tata Group’s New‑Age Ventures While Supporting National Projects
Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata said on Saturday that he supports the conglomerate’s move into new‑age businesses such as batteries and semiconductors and is not opposed to investing in projects of national importance. However, he warned that the group must maintain discipline in executing these large projects. Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi, Tata said the Trusts are ready to back Tata Sons’ national projects, which he described as part of the group’s DNA. "I have not asked or questioned the direction of what we have done," he said of Tata Sons’ investments in new‑age businesses. "I sometimes question the delivery of what we are doing. How will projects with a long gestation period succeed if we don’t have discipline, and how will we allocate capital to those projects? So, very clearly, direction is fine, but we also need discipline of execution in these very large projects," he added.
Tata, 70, said that backing national projects is part of the Tata Trusts DNA and will continue. "Strategic direction remains the same. Philanthropy on one hand, nation building on the other hand. This is independent of the leadership or personalities," he said.
The remarks come amid Noel’s differences with the Tata Sons board over three issues: the reappointment of chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran for another five‑year term, a planned public offering of Tata Sons, and growing losses in new‑age businesses including aviation, electric‑vehicle batteries, digital commerce and semiconductors. Tata Sons has invested ₹55,000 crore in the four businesses, with Tata Digital accounting for 48%, or ₹26,300 crore. The four companies reported a combined loss of ₹29,924 crore on revenue of ₹238,942 crore in FY26, according to the Mint’s review. But while the investments have increased, so has the debt at these companies. Tata Digital Pvt. Ltd, the Tata Electronics Pvt. Ltd cluster, including the iPhone assembling business and semiconductor business, the Air India group, and Agratas Energy Storage Solutions Pvt. Ltd and its UK subsidiary Agratas Ltd, saw their borrowings surge by 53% to ₹88,277 crore ($10 billion) at the end of March 2026, from ₹57,828 crore ($6.6 billion) a year ago, showed a Mint review of the individual company filings with the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) and the UK’s companies registrar.
Tata was unanimously appointed chairman of Tata Trusts on 11 October 2024, two days after his half‑brother Ratan Tata died. The appointment put him at the helm of the philanthropic institutions that collectively own about 66% of Tata Sons. Over the past 12 months, differences have emerged between Noel Tata and Tata Sons, led by Chandrasekaran. What began as questions over the group’s losses in new‑age businesses soon turned into questions over the leadership itself. The dispute came to a head on 17 September 2026, when the Tata Sons board reappointed Chandrasekaran for a third five‑year term despite Noel’s opposition. The resolution passed 4‑1. The two Trust nominee directors on the board split, Noel voting against and Venu Srinivasan in favour, and independent director Harish Manwani broke the deadlock with a casting vote. After the 17 September board meeting, Noel called the decision invalid, saying it could not be approved without most of the Trusts’ nominees agreeing. Tata Sons has defended the decision, while the Trusts have challenged its legality.
Noel has also opposed making Tata Sons a public company, arguing that in the Tata way of working, charity comes before business. "My worry is that listing, which is what some people are proposing, will change the Tata way," he said. "If we have 30,000, 40,000 shareholders, profit may take precedence over philanthropy, and I think that would fundamentally change the Tata way of working," he added.
Noel Tata’s comments come as Tata Group’s holding company, Tata Sons, faces a Reserve Bank of India mandate to list on the stock exchanges. He said the Trusts are willing to work with regulators to find a solution. "The other thing that staying private does is Tata Sons remains the backstop for any Tata companies that ever gets into trouble, and that is an important glue which keeps the entire group together," he said, explaining why he believes the holding company must stay private. "The moment you have a separate set of investors at Tata Sons from a separate set of investors in a company that requires funding, they are quite right to ask why do we want to make investments here? We should only be making investments in what we deliver and allocating capital to the most profitable ventures, and therefore the nature of the group is going to change," he added.