No leadership structural changes on anvil at Tata group: N Chandrasekaran

Clearing the air around the issue of leadership revamp at Tata Group, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Wednesday said that no leadership structural changes are on the anvil at the conglomerate. "Any such decisions, if relevant, are taken by the nomination and remuneration committee," Chandrasekaran said in a statement.

Ratan Tata, the octogenarian chairman of Tata Trusts, has a controlling stake in Tata Sons. The response from the $106 billion salt-to-software conglomerate comes a day after a media report said Tata Sons is planning a leadership structure revamp by creating a chief executive officer (CEO) role to improve corporate governance.

Under the proposed plan, the CEO will guide Tata Sons' businesses, while the chairman will supervise the CEO on behalf of the shareholders, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

It also said that Tata Sons is considering an extension for the current chairman Chandrasekaran, while the heads of various Tata Group subsidiaries are being considered for the position of CEO. The top management has not yet arrived at a final decision and the plan and details could still change, the report added.

Meanwhile, Chandrasekaran’s statement said, "We are extremely disappointed with such stories that create disruption to regular operations”.

In a separate statement, Ratan Tata said, "Such speculation can only serve to cause disruption amongst a team that has been operating smoothly with impressive growth in market value."

"I am extremely disappointed with the recent media reports regarding a major revamp in the Tata groups organisation framework through a speculative company-wise restructure with me seen to be critical to implementing this change," he was reported as saying by news agency PTI.

Also read: Tata Sons mulls leadership structure revamp, may create CEO role