The Tata Sons Board reviewed Mr. Chandrasekaran’s last five years and considered re-election on Friday.
The group’s bishop and chairman of Tata Trusts, Ratan Tata, who was present at the board meeting as a special guest, praised Chandrasekaran‘s re-election as chairman of Tata Sons, according to a company statement. The report said that Tata expressed satisfaction with the party’s performance under Chandrasekaran.
The statement added, “Board members have commended the performance of the Executive Chairman and unanimously approved the reappointment of Mr. N Chandrasekaran as Executive Chairman for the next five years.”
He joined the Tata Sons Board in October 2016 and was elected Chairman in January 2017.
Tata’s party raised an estimated $ 103 billion (Rs 7.7 lakh crore) for the financial year ended March 31, 2021.
CHANDRA’S REPORT CARD
- Tata Steel acquired and turned around Bhushan steel
- Tata Sons bought Air India for Rs 18,000 crore; integration key challenge
- Acquired Big Basket for e-commerce push
- Customers well accepted Tata Motors’ new cars
- Tata Tele excited cellular phone business; repaid loans worth Rs 60,000 crore
- Tata Digital set to launch a super App: Tata Neu
The board members— Venu Srinivasan, Ajay Piramal, Ralf Speth, Bhaskar Bhat, Sourabh Agrawal, and Harish Manwani–unanimously approved Chandrasekaran’s reappointment.
Tata Trusts owns a majority stake in Tata Sons with a 66% stake, may send two trustees as directors to the Tata Sons board. Tata Trusts’ deputy chairman Vijay Singh may be re-elected to the Tata Sons board as a nominee for Tata Trusts. Singh, a former civil servant, was on the board of Tata Sons as a nominee for Tata Trusts until August 2018, when he reached the legal retirement age. Sources said the party’s age-related policies could be changed because of the new positions.
Except for Chandrasekaran’s re-election, Tata Sons did not comment on any other issue.
According to its Articles of Association, Tata Trusts may appoint a third of the directors to its board holding the conglomerate as long as it owns 40 percent of the owners. Currently, Srinivasan represents Tata Trusts on the board of Tata Sons.
“It has been a privilege to lead Tata Group for the past five years, and I am grateful for the opportunity to lead Tata Group for another five years in its next phase,” said Chandrasekaran.
Tata Group market estimates have generated Rs 14.9 trillion over the past five years; data analyzed Business Standard exhibits. The market capitalization of the 29 top companies listed by Tata had risen to Rs 23.46 trillion as of Friday from Rs 8.5 trillion in February 2017, when Chandrasekaran took over as chairman.
The move to re-elect Chandrasekaran did not surprise India Inc leaders or insiders in Tata. Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Himanshu Rai, said, “Chandrasekaran’s biggest challenge stems from the fact that he is leading an investment company, namely companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, TCS, Tata Powers, each with different challenges and opportunities,”
“Chandra needs to solidify the profits of the corporate conglomerate and parents to make each company grow by using its strengths and addressing its weaknesses. It also needs to focus on innovation and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues across the spectrum of Tata Companies,” said Rai.
Before Chandra, the biggest challenge will be to transform Air India, said a Tata official. Tatas acquired Air India from the government with an Rs 18,000-crore agreement recently.
Chandrasekaran’s ten-year period has seen several integrations and acquisitions in the metals, aerospace, and digital sectors. The group is out of the Mobile Business.
One of Chandra’s first tasks, as she is known, was to extort Tata Teleservices that had lost almost Rs 60,000 crore to repay the bank loan without having to pay the AGR (converted
income) so far. Tata Group sold Bharti Airtel mobile phone business while keeping debt and other company debts.
In May 2018, in one of the most significant purchases, Tata Steel acquired Bhushan Steel for Rs 35,200 crore after the company defaulted on a bank loan and was sued by its creditors’ court. Tata Steel has managed to transform a company renamed Tata Steel BSL. Tata Steel tried to sell ThyssenKrupp to its European Business two years ago but failed to close the deal after opposition from many quarters, including unions.
Last year, the group launched several acquisitions, including Big Basket, in the digital space before the proposed launch of super-app. This year has seen many steps in this space.
Edited By- Subbuthai Padma
Published By- Bharat Anand
