Noel Tata said that at the September 2025 board meeting, Chandrasekaran had assured directors that “all necessary steps were being taken to ensure that the Company maintained its unlisted status”.
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“I accepted the assurance as sincerely given. Today’s meeting outcome will validate if that statement was sincerely given,” Noel Tata said in his statement.
The Tata Trusts chairman said the issue also came up at the February 24, 2026 board meeting, when the directors were discussing Chandrasekaran’s reappointment.
“At the meeting of this Board on 24 February 2026, when we were discussing the Chairman’s reappointment, one of the issues on which I asked the Chairman to publicly state his personal determination and desire was for the Company remaining private and if the Company is doing everything to remain private.”
“In response, the Chairman reiterated that the Company has taken all necessary steps to remain private. I do not read the assurance given in September 2025 and February 2026 as having expired,” he said.
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Noel Tata also pointed out that the RBI’s September 11 communication did not mention listing. The letter said Tata Sons’ request to voluntarily surrender its certificate of registration could not be accepted and advised the company to take necessary steps to comply with the rules applicable to a non-banking financial company in the Upper Layer. “It does not mention listing. It prescribes no particular step, and it does not say that the Company is in breach,” he said.
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‘What options were explored?’
Noel Tata said the board had not been briefed on what options management explored to avoid a public listing or the extent of its engagement with the RBI.
“What were the options explored by the management to avoid public listing? What was the level of engagement with the regulator on this front? The Board has not been briefed on this,” he said.
The Tata Trusts chairman called on Chandrasekaran and relevant officials to fully brief the board at a subsequent meeting on the company’s engagement with the RBI over the issue.
“Whatever this Company now proposes to do in response to the communication of 11 September 2026, it should proceed upon a position at which Tata Sons and the Tata Trusts have arrived together,” Noel added.
Noel Tata said the Tata Trusts, which are the majority shareholders, must be involved at every step rather than being informed after decisions are taken. “Any structural step towards a listing will, in any event, require shareholder approvals, which only they (Tata Trusts) can give, so their involvement is not merely desirable but unavoidable, and it is better secured by deliberation now than sought by requisition later.”
He pointed to resolutions passed by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust in 2025, in which both trusts unanimously recorded that Tata Sons should remain unlisted and asked its chairman to explore all available avenues to preserve its status.
