India’s Tata shares extend losses after N. Chandrasekaran resigns
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Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran said on Aug 12 that he would not seek reappointment when his term ends in 2027.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Tata Group shares fell over 5% after Chairman N. Chandrasekaran announced he will not seek reappointment due to board and Tata Trusts disagreements.
- Tata Consultancy Services led losses, dropping 5.3%, while Tata Motors, Titan, and Tata Steel also declined amid market uncertainty.
- Chandrasekaran's resignation follows tensions over Tata Sons listing, Air India losses, and board issues, but analysts expect stability once a new chairperson is appointed.
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NEW DELHI – Tata Group stocks extended their fall to more than 5 per cent on Aug 12, dragging Indian equity benchmarks, after Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran resigned, sparking a selloff across the conglomerate’s listed companies.
India’s top IT services exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, led the losses, sliding 5.3 per cent, making the shares the biggest losers on the blue-chip Nifty 50.
Jaguar Land Rover-parent Tata Motors PV fell 3.3 per cent while jeweller Titan and Tata Steel slipped over 2 per cent each.
Chandrasekaran said on Aug 12 he would not seek reappointment when his term ends in February due to a lack of backing from the board, following months of tensions with Tata Trusts, the charity arm that owns 66 per cent of Tata Sons.
Tata Group shares, which were already trading lower on reports about Chandrasekaran’s possible departure, fell more.
“It’s a knee-jerk reaction as Chandra has been at the helm for a long time, however, once the new chairperson is announced, it would be back to business as usual,” said Ambareesh Baliga, a Mumbai-based market analyst.
“We have witnessed such uncertain periods for Tata Group, when Ratan Tata had taken over in early 1990s and more recently during the Cyrus Mistry imbroglio, but it has always managed to steer through. So this time it shouldn’t be any different.”
Tata Sons controls more than 30 companies in the conglomerate, including TCS, Tata Motors and Air India.
Over the past year, the conglomerate has had to grapple with regulatory scrutiny of Air India following a fatal crash, pricing pressure at TCS and a cyberattack at JLR that disrupted production and weighed on Britain’s economic output.
Chandrasekaran and Tata Trusts have disagreed over a potential listing of Tata Sons, losses at Air India, the planned exit of a minority shareholder and board representation.
A source with direct knowledge of Chandrasekaran’s decision told Reuters the disagreements were the sole reason for his resignation.
So far in 2026, TCS shares have dropped 26.55 per cent, Tata Motors is down 8.5 per cent while Tata Steel has gained 2.6 per cent. Titan shares are 23.7 per cent higher in 2026. REUTERS
