n chandrasekaran: Tata Sons shareholders approve Chandrasekaran’s reappointment as chairman; Shapoorji Pallonji family abstains from vote

Shareholders of Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of Tata group companies, have approved the reappointment of N Chandrasekaran as chairman for another five-year term despite its single largest shareholder the Shapoorji Pallonji family abstaining from voting, according to sources. In February this year, the Board of Tata Sons had approved the reappointment of Chandrasekaran as executive chairman for another five years till February 2027, subject to shareholders’ approval.

At the shareholders meeting held on Monday, the proposal for Chandrasekaran’s reappointment for a second term needed more than 50 per cent of votes as it was an ordinary resolution.

The Tatas voted in favour of the proposal. With 66 per cent of Tata Sons’ equity share capital held by philanthropic trusts — Tata Trusts, the motion passed through, sources said.

However, they said, the Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) family of former chairman Cyrus Mistry, which holds 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons, abstained from voting on the resolution of reappointment of Chandrasekaran and that of appointment of Leo Puri, JP Morgan India chairman, as an independent director on the board of Tata Sons.

Mistry’s family voted against the proposal for appointment of Vijay Singh as a non-executive director of Tata Sons, with sources stating that it was keeping with the family’s view that in the ongoing legal tussle against Tata Sons he had only taken “instructions from the majority shareholders” and not fulfilled his “fiduciary duty to the company”.

Tata Sons and SP family declined to comment on the developments.

The Tatas and the SP family have been battling it out in the courts ever since Cyrus Mistry was removed as chairman of Tata Sons in October 2016.

Chandrasekaran joined the Tata Sons board in October 2016, was designated chairman in January 2017 and took official charge in February 2017. He also chairs the boards of operating companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power and TCS.

While he spent a large part of his first term fighting the legal battle with Mistry, Chandrasekaran led the reinvention of the group’s aviation business after successfully acquiring Air India Ltd and in bringing super app Tata Neu to tap opportunities in the fast growing e-commerce space.