MUMBAI: With the faction-driven Tata Trusts meeting underway, the Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group has reiterated its call for the listing of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $180 billion Tata group, to ensure better transparency and governance.
The debt-laden SP group has been trying to make a partial exit from its 18.4% holding in Tata Sons ever since the ouster of the late Cyrus Mistry as the Tata group chairman in October 2016.
The public demand from the SP group comes at a time when Tata Sons has missed an RBI-set deadline for large non-banking companies to go public by September 30.
The RBI is yet to take a call on Tata Sons’ application to deregister it as an upper layer NBFC made in August 2024, having repaid all its debt, one key condition to be a non-upper layer NBFC and to remain a private entity.
On October 1, when asked about the status of the Tatas’ application on this matter, RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra had said, “So long as an NBFC’s registration is not cancelled it can continue to engage in the functions they are allowed to under the licence,” adding “as a policy RBI does not individually speak about a regulated entity.”
Tata Sons remains in the January 2025 RBI list of upper layer NBFCs as a core investment company NBFC.
TNIE had last month reported that the RBI had asked Tata Sons to get a consensus from all stakeholders—particularly from the SP group—as a condition to consider its application to cancel the NBFC licence.
“In light of the recent developments pertaining to the internal matters of Tata Trusts, it is both timely and necessary to reiterate our long-standing position -- one that has always been rooted in transparency, fairness, public interest, and adherence to the principles of good corporate governance," said the SP group in a statement on Friday.
“The Shapoorji Pallonji Group has consistently advocated the public listing of Tata Sons. We firmly believe that listing this premier institution will not only uphold the spirit of transparency envisioned by its founding father Jamsetji Tata, but also strengthen trust among all stakeholders—employees, investors, and the people at large,” it added.
The group further said this stance is guided by a simple yet profound belief -- transparency is the truest form of respect for both the legacy and future of one of the oldest business houses in the country and that they have full faith that the RBI will take decisions grounded in the principles of equity, justice, and public interest.
On the missed September 30 deadline to take Tata Sons public, the statement said, “Public listing of Tata Sons is not merely a financial step, it is a moral and social imperative. It will unlock immense value for over 1.2 crore shareholders of listed Tata companies."
It added, “Importantly, Tata Trusts, as the nation’s largest public charity, stands to benefit immensely from this process. A transparent and publicly accountable Tata Sons would pave the way for a robust and equitable dividend policy, thereby ensuring sustained inflows to the trusts.”
