Chandrasekaran, Noel Tata briefed government on rift before exit

Outgoing Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata separately briefed senior government functionaries on the rift between them over strategy and governance before Chandrasekaran announced he would step down in February 2027, The Times of India reported. The discussions covered uncertainty over Chandrasekaran's reappointment, losses at Air India and Tata's digital platforms, and concerns about semiconductor ventures and appointments. Both men reached out to officials, and the government heard them out without siding with any faction.

Noel Tata visited Delhi over the Independence Day weekend, but sources denied he met government officials then. People close to him said the trip was for Trent, the group's retail arm where he serves as non-executive chairman until November. This is not the first such engagement: in 2025, Noel Tata and other trustees met officials to address divisions within the Trusts, and in June 2026 he met RBI officials to discuss a potential Tata Sons IPO. A trustee argued that recurring tensions between the Tata Sons chairman and Trusts chairman point to a structural problem that an IPO could help resolve.