Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s third term to be discussed at Tata Trusts meeting in May.
Key issues include Air India, Tata Digital and Tata Electronics performance.
Stake of Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Tata Sons’ private status also under review.
The question of whether Natarajan Chandrasekaran will be handed a third full term as chairman of Tata Sons is set to be on the table when the trustees of Tata Trusts convene in the second week of May, according to a report by Mint.
The trustees would meet roughly after four months for such a meeting which carries unusual significance given the unresolved tensions that surfaced at the Tata Sons board meeting in February.
1 April 2026
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Two Tata Group executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the newspaper that the gathering is expected to take place on either 8th or 12th May, depending on trustees' availability, with the agenda yet to be finalised or circulated. The meeting will also revisit the question of whether Tata Sons should remain a private company — a matter on which Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata is understood to hold firm views.
Whether Chandrasekaran's reappointment features formally on the agenda will depend, in part, on whether Tata Sons has by then responded adequately to the questions Noel Tata raised at the board meeting on 24th February — the meeting at which the decision on a third five-year term for Chandrasekaran, due to begin in February 2027, was deferred.
In Questions
Noel Tata, who assumed the chairmanship of Tata Trusts in October 2024, raised three substantive questions at the February board meeting.
The first concerned the strategic roadmap for three loss-making businesses: Air India, the e-commerce platform Tata Digital and the semiconductor venture Tata Electronics.
Air India posted a loss of ₹10,895 crore last year on revenues of ₹78,636 crore — the largest loss of any Tata Group company. Tata Digital reported losses of ₹4,610 crore and Tata Electronics ₹70 crore.
The second question concerned the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which holds an 18.38% stake in Tata Sons and has been seeking an exit for some time. The third was a request for an update on keeping Tata Sons out of the public markets.
