Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran kicks off crucial board meeting

Mumbai: Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran has kicked off the crucial board meeting today with detailed plans on the performance, future growth, and the capital requirements for its new age businesses including electronics and aviation aiming to answer some critical issues raised by Noel Tata chairman Tata Trusts in the last board meeting.

The reappointment of Chandrasekaran for a third term, however, is not on the agenda at Friday’s board meeting and is likely to be taken up at the next board meeting, people familiar with the matter said.

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CEOs of respective new businesses are presenting to the board. Randhir Thakur CEO of Tata Electronics, Campbell Wilson CEO of Air India, Sajith Sivanandan CEO of Tata Digital, Thomas Flack CEO of Agratas, and Kumar Sivarajan, CTO of Tejas Networks Ltd. were among them.

Chandrasekharan called for a special board meeting today to respond in detail to concerns raised by Noel Tata chairman Tata Trusts in the holding company's last board meeting on February 24 which deferred the reappointment of Chandrasekharan for the third term, said people familiar with the matter.

All the directors of Tata Sons including Venu Srinivasan, Harish Manwani, Anita George, Sourav Agarwal and Noel Tata are physically present at the group headquarters Bombay House.

Tata had raised concerns over losses in Air India and e-commerce business Big Basket and called for course correction. This is the first time in the history of Tata Sons that a special board meeting was convened by its chairman to submit a business review to Tata Trusts chairman, said those people who did not want to be identified.

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People familiar with the discussions said the presentations are focused on the relationship between capital allocation and business outcomes across emerging businesses, with Chandrasekaran outlining the long-term strategy and investment rationale underpinning the group’s newer bets.

The discussions come against the backdrop of an ongoing engagement between Tata Sons and Tata Trusts over governance, capital discipline and strategic direction.

The review also unfolds amid wider discussions surrounding Chandrasekaran’s proposed third term and speculation over whether the Reserve Bank of India may eventually mandate Tata Sons to list on stock exchanges which some of the trustees do not favour.