After leading Trent, is Noel Tata poised to take the helm at Tata Group?

Noel entered the Tata Group in 1999, taking over the retail arm, Trent, and was later elevated to chairman in 2014

With his son Neville by his side, Noel Tata, 67, was the face of the Tata family at Ratan Tata’s funeral on Thursday. As India’s top leaders and business tycoons paid homage to the titan, Noel, known for establishing the retail giant Trent, maintained a calm and composed demeanour.

Noel is the half-brother of Ratan Tata and the son of Naval and Simone Tata. He is married to Aloo Mistry, daughter of the late Pallonji Mistry and sister of the late Cyrus Mistry. The Shapoorji Pallonji family owns an 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group. Noel also has two daughters, Maya and Leah.

He entered the Tata Group in 1999, taking over the retail arm, Trent, and was later elevated to chairman in 2014. 

For the nine months ending March 1999 (FY99), the consolidated revenue from operations of the retail arm, which then housed the Westside brand, stood at Rs 19.7 crore, translating into an annualised revenue of Rs 26.3 crore. 

Now, Trent not only houses Westside but has also expanded to include other lifestyle and grocery brands, including Star Bazaar, its wholesale arm Booker, and the affordable lifestyle brand Zudio. Trent also manages the Indian presence of two leading global fashion brands, Zara and Massimo Dutti. The company closed FY24 with consolidated revenue of Rs 12,669 crore. 

Formerly known as Lakme Ltd, Trent was founded by Noel’s mother, Simone Tata, and originally focused on manufacturing, selling, and exporting cosmetics, toiletries, and perfumes, a business divested in 1998. On Thursday, Trent ended the day with a capitalisation of Rs 2.86 trillion on the BSE, having peaked at Rs 2.95 trillion on Wednesday.

In 2010, Noel joined Tata International, an exporter of leather goods, minerals, and metals, where he served until 2021. Today, he is chairman of two other Tata Group companies: The consumer durables company Voltas and Tata Investment Corporation.

In 2019, Noel became a trustee of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and joined the board of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust in 2022. In May, his three children were appointed to the boards of five philanthropic organisations under Tata Trusts, which oversees the $150-billion Tata Group.

Leah, 39, serves on the Tata Education Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust, and Sarvajanik Trust. Maya, 36, serves on the RD Tata Trust, as well as the Tata Education Trust and Sarvajanik Trust, while Neville, 32, was named to the board of the Tata Indian Institute of Skills (TIIS).

Set up in 2020, TIIS aspires to be a premier training institution in the country, equipped with world-class vocational training facilities. In 2022, Noel’s three children were also inducted into the Tata Medical Centre Trust, a cancer hospital in Kolkata.

These moves are part of the conglomerate’s succession plan. Both Tata Trusts and Tata Sons have professional managers overseeing day-to-day operations.