Noel Tata succeeds Ratan Tata, appointed chairman of Tata Trusts

Tata Trusts has appointed Ratan Tata's step brother Noel Tata as its new chairman to head the philanthropic entities that hold the key to the sprawling Tata empire. The move was decided after a meeting Friday morning to nominate a successor to late Ratan Tata.

Noel is already a trustee in the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust which together own 66% of Tata Sons, the holding company of the diversified salt-to-software Tata Group.

There was a strong consensus among the Parsi community to put someone with a Tata surname as the successor and Noel was a unanimous choice. At present, Tata Trusts have two key people - Venu Srinivasan of TVS and former defence secretary Vijay Singh - as vice-chairmen since 2018.


Noel Tata is recognized for his understated leadership approach, which differs significantly from Ratan Tata's more prominent public presence. Whereas Ratan Tata's leadership was marked by high visibility and media involvement, Noel has preferred to stay behind the scenes, concentrating on the group’s global ventures and retail sector.

Ratan Tata was the last individual to wear two hats-chairman of Tata Trusts and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. This changed in 2022, when the Tata Sons board unanimously amended its Articles of Association (AoA) to ensure that the same person cannot hold both the positions.

In a submission to the Supreme Court, in the course of the legal feud with Cyrus Mistry, Ratan Tata had famously said: "I happen to be the current chairman of these trusts, it could be somebody else, not necessarily with the surname 'Tata', in the future. An individual's life is finite whereas these organisations will continue."
Noel has been associated with the Tata group for over 40 years. He currently serves on the Board of various Tata Group Companies, including as the Chairman of Tata International Limited, Voltas & Tata Investment Corporation and as the Vice Chairman of Tata Steel and Titan Company Limited.

He served as the Managing Director of the Trent for more than 11 years where he oversaw the growth of Trent across formats and is credited to have streered its retail chain Trent into a Rs2.8 lakh crore company over the past decade. He was associated with Tata International Limited, as the Managing director from August 2010 to November 2021, where he grew the company from a turnover of $500 million to over $3 billion.

Noel graduated from Sussex University (UK) and has completed the International Executive Programme (IEP) from INSEAD.

Noel Tata's son Neville Tata joined Trent in 2016 and recently took charge as head of Star Bazaar, signalling the rise of the next generation of Tatas.

Noel Tata’s daughters are also involved in Tata Group companies. Leah Tata, 39, was recently given charge of the Gateway brand at Indian Hotels, where she’s worked for some years. Maya Tata, 36, who has interests in new-age analytics and technology, works at Tata Digital. Leah, Maya and Neville have also been brought on board as trustees of five trusts that are affiliates of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Noel Tata is also chairman of Voltas and a trustee of the Tata Trusts, which holds a 66% stake in Tata Sons.