Tata Sons chair N Chandrasekaran resigns, won't seek reappointment after term ends

Tata Sons chair N. Chandrasekaran has resigned, seven months before the end of his second five-year term that was to end in February next year, throwing the country’s largest conglomerate into uncertainty.

He said in a letter to the board of Tata Sons on Wednesday morning that he will not seek reappointment after completing his current term on 20 February 2027, according to an executive privy to the development.

Chandrasekaran, 63, was appointed as the chair of Tata Sons, the principal investment holding company of the $400-billion Tata Group, in February 2017 and given a second five-year term in 2022.

In his letter, Chandrasekaran, who has completed 40 years of his professional life at Tata Group, said Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) had unanimously recommended extending his tenure by another 5 years and a resolution was tabled at the Tata Sons board meeting on 24 February, 2026.

“However, the proposal was not carried through because one of the Board Members did not support it, and in the absence of unanimous support, I chose to defer the decision,” Chandrasekaran wrote.

SDTT and SRTT own 27.98% and 23.56%, respectively, of Tata Sons, while the other smaller trusts own 14.4%, giving these philanthropic entities a majority ownership of 65.9% in the holding company of the diversified Tata Group.

“It has been 6 months since that Board meeting, and no resolution has been reached till date. Tata Sons is a very large institution and there are many strategic projects that are under critical stages of execution. It is not only necessary to have a leader in place to lead the Group beyond Feb 2027, but also clarity on leadership is important for employees, investors, partners and other stakeholders," Chandrasekaran wrote.

He added that he has asked the Tata Sons board to decide on the succession soon to ensure a proper transition.

The Tata Sons board comprises Chandrasekaran, Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan, group chief financial officer Saurabh Agrawal, and independent directors Harish Manwani and Anita Marangoly George.

Selecting Tata Son's next chair

Tata Sons’s next chairman, according to the articles of association of the group holding company, will be appointed by a five-member selection committee.

Three persons will be nominated jointly by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust; one person will be nominated by and from amongst the Tata Sons board; and one independent outside person will be selected by Tata Sons.

The chair of this committee will be selected by SRTT and SDTT from among its three nominated members to the selection panel.

Chandrasekaran's tenure at Tata Sons

Before he was appointed the chairman of Tata Sons in January 2017, Chandrasekaran was the chief executive officer of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for a period of 30 years. It was under his leadership that TCS became the country's most valued company, as per the company's official website.