Tata Sons listing: In a bid to prevent Tata Sons Private Limited from going public and to dodge the RBI’s directives, Tata Sons shareholder Noel Tata has suggested restructuring the Tata Group holding company. In an exclusive ET Bureau report, Noel Tata is not in favour of Tata Sons listing, and the company’s board is divided over the RBI’s directive to go public.
The ET Bureau report says, “Noel Tata suggested restructuring Tata Sons into multiple entities. This proposal offers an alternative to listing the holding company. The Tata Sons board is divided on whether to restructure or list. Shapoorji Pallonji Group supports a public listing of Tata Sons. Any restructuring faces significant regulatory and commercial complexities.”
Tata Sons news
On 22 October 2021, the RBI issued a framework, which sorts non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) into four layers. The NBFC, which is placed in the ‘upper layer’, needs to meet requirements similar to those of banks, such as higher-quality capital, limits on large exposures, restrictions on directorships, and a compliance officer who answers to the board. The framework states that an upper-layer company shall be required to be listed within 3 years of identification and must adopt the disclosure standards of a listed company even before listing.
According to the RBI’s discussion paper dated January 2021, Tata Sons’ balance sheet more than doubled to ₹49.22 lakh crore in 2020 from ₹20.72 lakh crore in 2015. The RBI discussion paper further stated that non-banks were the largest net borrowers from the financial system, with gross payables of ₹9.37 lakh crore as of end-September 2020.
On listing specifically, the paper said firms posing higher systemic risk need the strongest corporate governance standards and a diffused ownership structure, to reduce the scope for abuse of dominance, and that the tools should be calibrated on the lines applied to private banks.
When Tata Sons came into the picture?
Tata Sons’ listing first appeared in the discussion paper on 30 September 2022, when a list of 16 upper-layer NBFCs was given a three-year deadline to go public. The deadline went by as Tata Sons application to surrender the NBFC registration at the RBI. Tata Sons’ listing came into the picture again this month when the RBI rejected its plea.
In June 2026, the RBI scrapped its scoring method for identifying upper-layer NBFCs and replaced it with a single size test: assets of ₹1 lakh crore or more. Tata Sons reported standalone assets of ₹2.01 lakh crore as of March 31, 2026.
