Months of boardroom wrangling within India’s sprawling Tata business empire culminated in the abrupt resignation of its Tata Sons chair this month, rattling markets as uncertainty surrounded the $290 billion group.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran will wind up a decade-long role leading the conglomerate in February 2027, following persistent tensions with scion Noel Tata, the chair of Tata Trusts, which owns 66 per cent of Tata Sons. Chandrasekaran and the Tata scion have reportedly clashed over governance, spending and the balance of power between Tata Sons and its controlling trusts.
With no obvious successor in place and reports that Chandrasekaran, 63, stepped down to avoid a confidence vote, his departure leaves a heavy question mark over the next chapter of the 158-year-old business.
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Chandrasekaran’s decision marks the group’s second conflict-fuelled chair departure in the past 10 years. Cyrus Mistry, the group’s first non-family chair, was ousted by Tata Sons in 2016 after a major power struggle with his predecessor, Ratan Tata. The latest turmoil in the group raises questions over whether Tata’s ownership structure gives the leaders of Tata Sons sufficient autonomy from its controlling shareholder trusts.
Many other major Indian business groups rely on a family succession model – but that’s not always straightforward, either. Tata’s upheaval comes as a new Julius Baer-EY report estimates that $1.3 trillion to $1.5 trillion of wealth in India will pass between generations over the next decade, with estimates suggesting the number of family offices has risen from around 45 in 2018 to nearly 300 in just seven years.
A PwC report earlier this year noted that 52 per cent of the Indian family business leaders questioned said resistance from their elders in the business was the biggest barrier to next-generation leadership, compared with 29 per cent globally.
Hetal Sanghvi, tax expert and head of the India desk at Edwin Coe in London, highlighted a growing push to formalise succession planning within Indian business families.
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‘We’re seeing growing engagement from the next generation of Indian business families, who are actively driving succession planning while working sensitively with the older generation to formalise the transfer of wealth,’ she told Spear’s.
Sanghvi said increasingly complex cross-border tax and compliance requirements can sit alongside informal historic arrangements around beneficial ownership, particularly within joint family business structures.
She added that rising family litigation in India’s tier-one cities is prompting more families to formalise succession plans and establish family offices to manage wealth and compliance separately from day-to-day business management.
Julius Baer’s report similarly noted that the wealth transfer is driving demand for more formal governance structures, including family constitutions, councils and succession policies.
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Tata Group
Chandrasekaran’s abrupt resignation, which came ahead of a scheduled August shareholder meeting, wiped $4.6 billion from the group’s market value. His exit announcement followed reports of clashes over Noel Tata’s resistance to listing Tata Sons, Air India’s mounting losses and the pair’s differing approaches to capital allocation and investment, with Chandrasekaran favouring an ambitious investment-heavy strategy over Noel Tata’s more cautious approach. This was coupled with governance disputes over how much control Tata Trusts should have over Tata Sons and its board.
While no obvious replacement has been primed for Chandrasekaran’s role, Tata Steel chief T.V. Narendran is among names being considered for the post, according to Financial Times sources. Others include Tata Sons CFO Saurabh Agrawal and Tata Motors chief Shailesh Chandra, according to Indian business reports. Noel Tata is more likely to act as kingmaker and remain as chair of Tata Trusts than take on the role himself. Speculative reports suggest Noel is positioning his son Neville Tata, trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, as a future candidate for a larger role, but at 33 years old, there is no suggestion he is an immediate candidate for the top job.
Reliance Industries
Where Tata is India’s largest conglomerate, Reliance Industries is the country’s most valuable single listed company, valued at $186 billion. Mukesh Ambani, chair and largest individual stakeholder of the oil-to-telecom business, said in June that the 68-year-old firm’s generational transfer of day-to-day management was ‘almost complete’. His three children are in line for ‘collective leadership’ of the business, with eldest son Akash already leading digital and telecoms business Jio, while his twin sister Isha oversees retail and consumer businesses, and their younger brother Anant heads up energy and renewables.
Adani Group
Another multi-heir succession model will see Gautam Adani’s two sons and two nephews take control of the $150 billion-plus infrastructure and energy empire when he turns 70 in 2032. Elder son Karan leads Adani Ports, while Jeet Adani manages its airports business. Nephew Pranav is the managing director of its agro, oil and gas businesses, while Sagar is the executive director of Adani Green Energy.
Godrej Industries
The $20 billion Godrej Industries Group is undergoing a generational handover, with fourth-generation heir Pirojsha Godrej taking over as executive chair from his uncle Nadir this month. The succession follows the Godrej family’s decision to divide into two branches in 2024. Pirojsha, 45, who previously led its property arm, has had a turbulent start in the top job, with a separate leadership change seeing Godrej Consumer Products chief executive Sudhir Sitapati quit only three months into his reappointment for a five-year term, causing its shares to plunge 11 per cent.
Aditya Birla Group
The $118 billion cotton-to-steel Aditya Birla Group is taking a gradual approach to succession, with Kumar Mangalam Birla, 59, yet to announce an heir. It’s not known whether power will eventually be transferred to either of his children Ananya and Aryaman, who both hold non-executive director roles and sit on the boards of major Aditya Birla Group companies.
