Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. is the parent company of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in the Tata group of companies including their land holdings across India, tea estates and steel plants and derives its revenue from dividends from these companies and brand loyalty fees. It is a privately owned conglomerate of nearly 100 companies encompassing several primary business sectors, including: chemicals, consumer products, energy, engineering, information systems, materials, and services. Its headquarters are in Mumbai.
Tata Sons was established as a trading enterprise in 1917, and engaged primarily in the lucrative opium and tea trade with Mongolia and China before moving from conducting businesses directly to becoming the principal holding company of Tata Group. About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest two of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Tata Sons is the owner of the Tata name and the Tata trademarks, which are registered in India and several other countries. It is one of the largest conglomerates in the Indian subcontinent.
Location
The company is registered and located in Mumbai, India.
Board of directors
The Tata Sons Board of Directors consists of the following:
| Position | Personnel |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Natarajan Chandrasekaran (chairman, Tata Group) |
| Independent director | Farida Khambata |
| Director | Venu Srinivasan (chairman, TVS Group) |
| Non-executive director | Ajay Piramal (chairman, Piramal Group & Shriram Group) |
| Additional director | Ralf Speth (Former CEO, Jaguar Land Rover) |
| Director | Bhaskar Bhat |
| Independent director | Harish Manwani |
| Director | Saurabh Agrawal (CFO, Tata Sons) |
Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust are the two biggest shareholders of Tata Sons, with a combined stake of around 50%, while Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry was the largest individual shareholder. Pallonji’s father, Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry was a prominent construction magnate who acquired a significant stake of Tata Sons in the 1930s initially from Framroze Edulji Dinshaw, and finally when JRD Tata’s younger brother, Dorab, sold his shares in a fit of anger. Pallonji’s shareholding was divided equally between his two sons, Shapoor Mistry and Cyrus Mistry, who died in September, 2022.
- Total equity shares: 404,146 (₹10 each)
| Shareholder | No of shares | Share-holding percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Pallonji Shaprooji Mistry | 108 | 0.03 |
| Sterling investment corporation private limited | 37122 | 9.19 |
| Cyrus investment private limited | 37122 | 9.19 |
| Ratan Naval Tata | 3368 | 0.83 |
| Sir Dorabji Tata Trust | 113067 | 27.98 |
| Sir Ratan Tata Trust | 95211 | 23.56 |
| Tata investment corporation limited | 326 | 0.08 |
| Sarvajanik Seva Trust | 396 | 0.10 |
| RD Tata Trust | 8838 | 2.19 |
| Tata Education Trust | 15075 | 3.73 |
| Tata Social Welfare Trust | 15075 | 3.73 |
| Jrd Tata Trust | 16200 | 4.01 |
| Tata Power Company Limited | 6673 | 1.65 |
| Tata Consumer Products Limited | 1755 | 0.43 |
| The Indian Hotels Company Limited | 4500 | 1.11 |
| Tata Industries Limited. | 2295 | 0.57 |
| Tata Chemicals Limited | 10237 | 2.53 |
| Tata Steel Limited | 12375 | 3.06 |
| Tata International Limited. | 1477 | 0.37 |
| Tata Motors Limited | 12375 | 3.06 |
| Piloo Minocher Tata | 487 | 0.12 |
| Jimmy Naval Tata | 3262 | 0.81 |
| Jimmy Minocher Tata | 157 | 0.04 |
| Veera Farhad Choksey | 157 | 0.04 |
| Simone Naval Tata | 8 | 0 |
| Noel Naval Tata | 4058 | 1.00 |
| HH Maharawal Virendra Singh Chauhan(Raja of Chhota Udepur)[14] | 1 | 0 |
| MK Tata Trust | 2421 | 0.60 |
Conversion to Private Ltd, and internal conflicts
Natarajan Chandrasekaran took over as Chairman of Tata Sons on 21 February 2017. The company also undertook conversion from a public limited company to a private limited one in 2017; both these decisions were challenged in court by former executive chairman Cyrus Mistry. In December 2019, NCLAT declared the conversion, and by extension, Chandrasekaran’s chairmanship, illegal and restored Mistry. On 10 January 2020, however, the Supreme Court stayed NCLAT’s order; in response, Mistry filed a cross appeal in the court, seeking explanations for anomalies in the NCLAT. On 26 March 2021, the Supreme Court of India upheld Tata Sons’ decision to sack Cyrus Mistry.