The Tatas | The battle for control

It was close to 10 am on September 17, and anticipation was building among mediapersons waiting outside the iconic, century-old Bombay House in South Mumbai. Tata Sons, the holding company of the $180 billion (Rs 17.2 lakh crore) Tata Group, was to hold a crucial board meeting. Its six-member board—comprising chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata, industrialist Venu Srinivasan, former Hindustan Unilever chairman Harish Manwani, investment professional Anita M. George and Tata Group chief financial officer Saurabh Agrawal—had two key matters before it. One concerned the leadership of Tata Sons, after Chandra announced on August 12 that he would not seek a third term when his current tenure ends in February 2027. The other was the proposed public listing of Tata Sons, a private entity.