The Tata Trusts board of trustees is understood to be considering a few internal candidates for the post of CEO after Srinath Narasimhan, a Tata Group veteran, retired at 60. The names being discussed include Siddharth Sharma, Tata Sons group chief sustainability officer (CSO), and Sukaran Singh, CEO of Tata Advanced Systems (TASL), said top executives close to the development. The Tata Trusts hold 66% of Tata Sons, the group holding company.
The board of trustees will also consider other candidates and no name has been finalised, said the executives. As chairman of the Tata Trusts, Ratan Tata’s suggestions about the final candidate will be key in making a decision, they said.
The Tata Trusts did not comment.
Traditionally, the Trusts have been governed by a Tata insider. Narasimhan was named the first CEO of the Tata Trusts in 2020, marking a shift to a more professional management style. Narasimhan was earlier managing director of Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra). Before that, Tata Trusts was handled by a managing trustee, along with 20 trustees.
Siddharth Sharma was a career bureaucrat for more than two and a half decades before joining Tata in 2019. He has served in key ministries and government departments, including the ministries of finance, external affairs and urban development and played a key role in conceptualising and implementing pension reform in India in the form of the National Pension System. He was also financial advisor to the late President Pranab Mukherjee in 2012-17. As group CSO, he is responsible for overseeing ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives and in that capacity heads the Tata Sustainability Group and chairs the Tata Group Sustainability Council.
Sukaran Singh joined the Tata Group in 2003 and is currently CEO of TASL, which provides integrated solutions for aerospace, defence and homeland security.
As part of its corporate governance strengthening exercise and succession planning, the Tata Trusts have begun strengthening the board of trustees with the recent inclusion of Mehli Mistry, 62, a director of the Meherji Pallonji group. A close confidant of Ratan Tata, Mistry is known to have excellent administrative and sourcing skills, said the people cited above, adding that he’s expected to play a significant role at the Trusts. Mistry runs about a dozen companies, with interests ranging from paint distribution to logistics, travel and automotive dealerships.
In recent times, Ratan Tata, 84, has been keen to ensure that the Trusts pursue critical causes such as malnutrition, cancer treatment, sanitisation and education.
Those being hired by the Trusts have the knowledge and experience to help scale up their reach in such key areas, insiders said. Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, is keen to ensure that the interests of both institutions, the Tata Trusts and Tata Sons, are protected.
About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust.