Noel Tata has been a critical figure in Tata Group’s growth since he joined in the early 2000s
Noel Tata, Ratan Tata’s half-brother, has been appointed Chairman of Tata Trusts following a meeting in Mumbai today. Noel succeeds Ratan Tata, who died at 86 in a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday.
Ratan Tata’s death marked the end of an era in Indian business, where a man reshaped the country’s industrial landscape and catapulted his family-owned conglomerate into a global powerhouse.
Since joining in the early 2000s, Noel Tata has been a key figure in Tata Group’s growth. Today, following a meeting of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Dorabji Tata Trust, he was appointed Chairman of Tata Trust.
Noel Tata is the vice chairman of Tata Steel and watch company Titan. His mother, Simone Tata, a French-Swiss Catholic who is Ratan Tata’s stepmother, is currently chairman of Trent, Voltas, Tata Investment Corporation, and Tata International. He was educated at Sussex University in the UK and has completed an International Executive Programme (IEP) at INSEAD.
Before this new appointment, Noel Tata’s most prominent role was Managing Director of Tata International Ltd, the group’s trading and distribution arm. Under his leadership from 2010 to 2021, the company grew from a turnover of $500 million to over $3 billion, proving his ability to drive growth in a highly competitive environment.
As Managing Director of Trent Ltd, Tata’s retail arm, he expanded its operations from a single store in 1998 to over 700 stores across various formats.
Tata Trusts is the umbrella body that manages the functions of all 14 Tata Trusts.
Two essential trusts—the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust—hold over 50% of Tata Sons’ ownership.
Tata Trust at present has Venu Srinivasan, Vijay Singh, and Mehli Mistry as executive committee members.
Atan Tata’s younger brother, Jimmy, is not involved in the family business and lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Colaba, south Mumbai.
Born into a traditional Parsi family in 1937, Ratan Tata was raised by his grandmother after his parents, Naval and Sooni Tata, divorced when he was 10.
