THE WOLF HAS DROPPED THE FACADE.
What happened inside Tata Sons on September 17 may prove to be one of the most consequential boardroom battles in modern Indian corporate history.
On August 12, N. Chandrasekaran appeared to have decided his own succession: he would step down as Chairman after February 20, 2027.
Five weeks later, he reversed course.
The board voted 4–1 to give him another five-year term.
Noel Tata opposed it.
And with that vote, the Tata succession question became something much bigger:
Who actually controls Tata Sons?
The Tata Trusts?
The Board?
The Chairman?
Or the Articles that sit above them all?
The battle is now moving from succession to constitutional control of India’s most powerful business institution.
And then came the second move: the board decided to proceed with steps toward complying with the RBI’s listing requirement.
Five more years for Chandra.
A potential IPO for Tata Sons.
And the Trusts challenging the validity of the process.
This is no longer a routine leadership transition.
It is a test of the governance architecture that has held the Tata Group together for generations.
The façade of consensus is gone.
The real battle for Tata Sons has begun.
Exactly the same playbook is playing out at HDFC and L&T. Sold out independent directors. Loss of cultural diversity. Hidden hand of the deep state. Every holding company wanting to be professionally managed and board run is at risk from unethical managers at risk.
The only safeguard companies can take is to restrict these roles to IITians. To date no IITian has showed such poor ethical values or lack of character.
Chandrasekhar didn’t go to IIT. He has a PhD in dirty tricks and politics. Ramadorai didn’t go to IIT. SNS at L&T didn’t go to IIT. Shankar didn’t. Pramath Jhaveri did not. Nor did Shashi at HDFC.
In fact none of them went to a IIM either. When u don’t have education or intelligence, you look for other ways to succeed. And then you will always find a professional agency willing to sell their soul to collaborate. Nira Radia was actually good. Even though she didn’t really go to college. At least she stood for some values. She would not have back stabbed the Tatas.
Professionals and professionalism.
The dark day was 17.09.2026
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