India's Tata Sons may name Chandrasekaran as new chairman - TV

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's $100 billion salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Sons is likely to name a new chairman on Thursday, local media reported, with two television stations saying its software services unit's boss N. Chandrasekaran was the likely candidate.

Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group - a business empire ranging from Jaguar Land Rover and steel mills to aviation and salt pans - ousted its chairman Cyrus Mistry in October, sparking a bitter public spat.

Chandrasekaran, a Tata Group veteran, currently heads Tata Consultancy Services, India's most-valuable company with a market capitalisation of $67 billion.

"Let's not speculate," Chandrasekaran said, when asked at a news conference on Thursday, after TCS unveiled its quarterly results, whether he was getting the Tata Sons chairman's role.

Tata Sons was holding a board meeting on Thursday afternoon, the Economic Times newspaper and television stations CNBC TV18 and ET NOW said. The two TV stations said Chandrasekaran was the likely new chairman.

CNBC TV18 said TCS chief financial officer Rajesh Gopinathan would be appointed TCS chief executive.

Ratan Tata, patriarch of one of India's most influential families, had taken over as interim chairman of Tata Sons after the board ousted Mistry.

In October, Tata Sons' board had set up a five-member selection committee that included Ratan Tata to choose a new chairman within the next four months.

When asked if Tata Sons was naming a new chairman on Thursday, a spokesman said the company would not comment on speculation.

(Writing by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Alex Richardson)