India’s Tata Sons, the holding company of the $100-billion Tata group, will focus on boosting shareholder returns and tightening capital allocation rules, newly-appointed chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said in a statement on Tuesday.
Chandrasekaran, widely known as Chandra, took over as chairman on Tuesday, months after the firm ousted predecessor Cyrus Mistry in a bitter boardroom coup with family patriach Ratan Tata returning to the helm temporarily.
A public spat between Tata Sons and Mr. Mistry followed his removal in October and the two are now involved in a legal tussle.
‘Greater rigour’
In a statement, Mr. Chandrasekaran said he plans to bring the group closer together to leverage its collective strength and “bring greater rigour to our capital allocation policies and deliver superior returns to our shareholders.”
Mr. Chandrasekaran, the former chief executive of IT outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services, takes the helm at a time when several companies in the conglomerate have seen profits come under pressure.
Former chairman Mr. Mistry has warned of big write downs and stressed the need for governance reforms at Tata Sons. Tata Sons has denied Mr. Mistry’s accusations.
Chandrasekaran, 53, has also been appointed chairman of several group operating companies including Tata Motors, TCS, Tata Steel and Tata Power.
PTI reports:
Saying that it was humbling to lead the 150-year old Group, Mr. Chandrasekaran said the Tata brand occupies a special place in people’s hearts and minds as the flag bearers for trust and social responsibility.
“I have taken pride in our achievements as a group, in our ability to innovate and take risks in order to create pioneering and global businesses, and in our ongoing contribution to the communities that we work in,” he wrote in a letter to the group’s employees.
Credited with creating India’s largest IT company TCS, Mr. Chandrasekaran said a key part of entrepreneurial DNA in Tata Group has always been its pioneering spirit and “ability to lead and not follow.” He said: “As a group, we have enormous collective strengths. Working together, our companies, Tata Sons and the Tata Trusts have been very successful in the past, and have created great value for all our stakeholders.
“Now, as we face the future, we have a huge opportunity to do so once again — in terms of our business performance, by enabling higher shareholder value, as well as by making a significant and lasting social impact with a view to make a sustainable difference in communities.”
“The Tata Code of Conduct has always been the bedrock of my personal commitment to our value system. It will always remain at the core of my leadership of our group,” he said.
