BREAKINGVIEWS-India's too-big-to-fail conglomerates are flailing

By Shritama Bose

KOLKATA, Oct 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A power struggle at one of its largest business houses is the last thing India needs as it grapples with punitive U.S. tariffs. The government has intervened unusually quickly in a boardroom battle at the Tata group; India's finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, met last week with the $300 billion conglomerate's unlisted holding company and the charitable trusts that are its 66% owners and urged them to resolve their internal disputes. It confirms the systemic risks posed by India's family-led businesses.

One year on from the death of the group's patriarch, Ratan Tata, the conglomerate is battling multiple operational crises: the country's top manufacturer and employer is reeling from the deadly crash of a plane at Air India – a carrier it acquired from the government in 2022; a cyberattack has crippled production at Tata Motors' TAMO.NS luxury marque Jaguar Land Rover; and growth is weak at its IT software services giant, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS.

Yet the board of Tata's main holding company, led by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, is at only three-fifths of its March 2024 strength after a tussle between trustees at the charitable trusts resulted in the ousting of a director of Tata Sons in September. Noel Tata, who succeeded his half-brother as the chair of Tata Trusts, is struggling to stamp his authority on the group, and his position is complicated by his marriage to the sister of former Tata Sons chair Cyrus Mistry, whose family wants to exit Tata Sons; their 18% stake might be worth up to $38 billion.

India is no stranger to drama at its family businesses, but the Tatas, like Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS and the Adani group, are increasingly embedded in New Delhi's strategic planning. Tata group is Apple's AAPL.O domestic partner, leads the charge in India's chipmaking ambitions and produces defence gear through joint ventures with Lockheed Martin LMT.N and Boeing BA.N. The boom in software services over the past two decades means TCS alone has a headcount of over 593,000.

New Delhi needs its leading businesses putting their best foot forward to offset the impact of Trump's trade war. But on top of the Tata woes, the $160 billion Adani group has slowed capital expenditure and is more reliant on Indian banks after U.S. authorities charged its founder Gautam Adani with fraud, allegations the group denies.

The government's intervention at Tata group may accelerate an exit for the Mistry family. If nothing else, it shows India recognises the dangers of depending on a chosen few.

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CONTEXT NEWS

Two senior Indian ministers met top executives from the Tata group and urged them to resolve internal boardroom disputes, Reuters reported on October 8, a day after the meeting took place, citing unnamed sources.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was one of the ministers present at the meeting in New Delhi, which Tata Sons Chair N. Chandrasekaran and Tata Trusts head Noel Tata attended, the report added.