Tata Sons shareholders clear directors' appointment, dividend payment

Holding company of Tata group reappoints Saurabh Agrawal and Ralf Speth for another 5 years

The shareholders of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, on Tuesday approved the reappointment of Saurabh Agrawal and Ralf Speth as directors for another five years.

An online annual general meeting (AGM) of the shareholders, including the Mistry family, also cleared the dividend for Financial Year 2022-23 (FY23).

The dividend outflow will be Rs 707 crore, higher than Rs 404 crore paid in FY22. Tata Trusts holds a 66 per cent in Tata Sons and the Mistry family has an 18.4 per cent stake. The rest is with various Tata group companies and Tata family members.

A source said the AGM was routine and the Mistry family didn’t oppose any matter.

Tata Sons in FY23 earned a dividend income of Rs 33,423 crore, which accounted for 95.3 per cent of its total income of Rs 35,058 crore during the fiscal. The rest of Tata Sons’ income came from brand fees and interest on treasury operations. A big chunk of the income was used to either write off bad assets or fund recurring losses of large unlisted subsidiaries in telecom, retail, e-commerce and aviation. Tata Sons' aviation companies, Air India, Air Asia and Tata SIA Airlines, reported a loss of Rs 15,532 crore in FY23 compared to Rs 13,767 crore in loss in FY22.

In 2022, the Tata group paid cash to acquire state-owned Air India for Rs 2,700 crore and took over liabilities of Rs 15,986 crore from the government.