NEW DELHI: Since 2014 when newly-appointed Tata Group chairman Noel became the chairman at Trent, since then its shares have surged over 6,000%. Noel also had helmed Tata International from 2010 to 2021, during which the commodity trading firm’s revenue jumped from $500 million to over $3 billion.
He is also on the boards of several listed Tata firms, including Tata Steel, Voltas, Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals and IHCL that owns the Taj brand.
Noel, married to late Cyrus Mistry’s sister in law have three children — Maya, Neville and Leah, who are also trustees of some of the family-linked charities. 67-year-old Noel is son of Naval Tata from his second marriage, who was also Ratan’s father, and Simone Tata. He is already on the boards of the key Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
Tata Trusts was setup by Ratan’s great grandfather Jamsetji Tata in 1892, years after he founded the Tata group.
The importance of the Tata Trusts is humungous not just because they are largest public charities in the country, these trusts own as much as 66.4% of the $165 billion Tata empire that counts over 100 operating companies in as many sectors, and 30 of them listed with collective market value of Rs 34 trillion.
The Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai’s Lower Parel, the largest oncology-focused hospital not only in the country but across Asia with over 650 beds (500 more are being added at an investment of over Rs 1,200 crore now, another 930 beds in the nearby Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai; and many extensions in other states, they also run innumerable charities in other parts of the country.
The main trusts — the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust— are managed by 13 trustees, with the former having six and the later seven. Of the 13 five are common to both the trusts. Going by the constitution of these trusts, the 13 trustees have to choose a new chairman from among themselves to head the largest trusts.
Noel’s career within the Tata Group began in early 2000s, and by 2011, he was appointed managing director of Tata International, and for over a decade he chaired Trent, the group’s retail chain, that runs Croma, Westside, Zudio, Star Bazaar among others, excluding the Tata Starbucks and Titan and Tanishq.