Chandrasekaran's Feb 2027 Exit Plan May Face Resistance From Tata Sons' NRC

A committee within Tata Sons' board is preparing to object to chairman N Chandrasekaran's plan to leave when his term concludes in February 2027. The nomination and remuneration committee (NRC) intends to formally ask him to stay on, a request that could put it on a collision course with Tata Trusts, the group's largest shareholder, which has already publicly backed Chandrasekaran's exit, according to a report by the Economic Times. The board is set to take up the matter at its meeting on September 17.

Three members sit on the committee; Harish Manwani, Anita Marangoly George and Venu Srinivasan. Such committees typically handle decisions on hiring and paying senior leadership, with their recommendations then going to the full board for approval.

Listing Deadline Changes The Calculus

Pressure on Tata Sons has grown since the Reserve Bank of India turned down the company's bid to hand back its non-banking financial company licence and instead ordered it to go public without further delay, ending a stretch of more than two years in which the regulator had stayed silent on the issue.

This shift has made Chandrasekaran's presence at the top feel less optional. Losing him just as the group heads toward an initial public offering, they argued, would add a second major disruption on top of the one Tata Sons is already managing, the report added. Swapping leaders during this stretch would make an already complicated transition even harder to pull off.

Chandrasekaran himself has been clear that he does not want another term past February 2027. But those pushing back say the calculation looks different now: keeping him around for a fixed additional stretch, even if temporary, would let the group lean on his experience just as it braces for the kind of scrutiny that comes with being a publicly listed company.

Even if Chandrasekaran agreed to stay, the decision would not be his or the committee's to finalise alone. Reappointing him as director requires sign-off at an annual general meeting, and that process is currently stuck. The Sir Ratan Tata Trust, one of the key shareholders behind Tata Trusts, has been barred from taking major decisions by Maharashtra's Charity Commissioner while it investigates whether the trust broke any rules.