Tata Chemicals shares rallied more than 12% to trade at around Rs 774 apiece, the highest level in more than two months, while Tata Investment Corp shares gained over 8.5% to a seven-week high of Rs 722 apiece in the morning trading hours of Monday. Notably, both companies hold some stake in Tata Sons.
Tata Trusts trustee and former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh has called for the listing of Tata Sons on the stock exchanges through its IPO, after TVS Group’s Venu Srinivasan publicly supported the move, The Indian Express reported. Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry also backed the case for listing Tata Sons, calling it a “necessary revolution” rather than a regulatory compulsion.
Mistry said that a public listing would strengthen governance standards, improve transparency and enhance accountability within the Tata ecosystem. He also dismissed concerns that the IPO could dilute the role of Tata Trusts, stating there is no evidence to suggest that a public listing would harm the interests of beneficiaries or weaken the trusts’ ability to fulfil their objectives.
This is contrary to the resolution passed by Tata Trusts less than a year ago, which aimed to retain Tata Sons as an unlisted private entity, resisting regulatory momentum toward a potential IPO. More recently, Tata Trusts, under the chairmanship of Noel Tata, had asked Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran to explore all options to avoid a listing, while also initiating discussions on a potential exit for the SP Group.
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Earlier, Venu Srinivasan backed the idea of a public listing of Tata Sons, the first time that a Tata Trusts trustee publicly supported such a move, saying that the step would be inevitable if the Reserve Bank of India classifies the group holding company as an upper layer non-banking finance company (NBFC), appearing to reflect a widening divergence of opinion at the group’s top echelons.
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Tata Trusts Vice Chairman Srinivasan told ET that such a move would allow Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group to monetise its 18.37% stake in Tata Sons, a long-standing demand of the minority shareholder that’s seeking to pay off debt.
“A public listing would not only unlock value for minority shareholders, including providing an exit route to the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, but also equip Tata Sons with capital to sustain its growth trajectory,” Srinivasan told ET.
The Reserve Bank of India is expected to issue a revised circular on upper-layer NBFCs soon. The RBI’s scale-based regulation (SBR) framework for NBFCs is under review. Officials have suggested that Tata Sons may not receive the RBI exemption it has sought from the upper-layer classification to avoid listing.
Tata Trusts has majority control of Tata Sons with a stake of about 66%. Amid mounting pressure-including a possible regulatory mandate, demands from the SP Group, and rising internal differences- the Trusts appear to be increasingly divided. One section of trustees sees listing as inevitable and aligned with shareholder interests, while another remains opposed, favouring an unlisted structure to preserve control and legacy considerations.
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The broader unease within the group has also surfaced in governance matters. An early move to consider a third term for Chandrasekaran, whose current tenure runs until February 2027, was deferred after objections were raised over the performance of Chandrasekaran and losses at Air India and Tata Digital at a board meeting by Noel Tata on February 24, 2026, highlighting emerging differences between the Trusts and the Tata Sons board.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)