Mumbai, May 26 (IANS) The board meeting of Tata Sons began on Tuesday amid heightened focus on the leadership and financial performance of several loss-making group companies.

Members of the Tata Sons board were seen arriving at Bombay House ahead of the meeting.

Discussions are likely to centre around the performance of the conglomerate’s loss-making businesses and their future strategy.

Moreover, individual companies are expected to make presentations on the state of their operations and the roadmap ahead.

The meeting comes amid growing friction within the Tata group over the financial performance of some of its newer ventures.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata — who is also a nominee director on the Tata Sons board — met over the weekend to discuss the performance of group companies.

The board meeting also comes days after the Maharashtra State Charity Commissioner directed Tata Trusts to defer a key board meeting following complaints alleging violations in the composition of the board of trustees of Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT).

Tata Trusts had said the order was ex parte in nature and applied only to SRTT. The trust said the directions issued by the Charity Commissioner were being examined.

The earlier meetings of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) and SRTT, originally scheduled for May 8, were later deferred to May 16 amid legal challenges and governance-related deliberations.

The meetings were expected to discuss issues related to Tata Sons, including a possible listing of the company, the reappointment of Chairman N Chandrasekaran and the role of certain nominee directors.

According to reports, remarks by Tata Trusts vice-chairmen Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan on the possibility of listing Tata Sons had triggered wider internal discussions within the Trusts over governance and board representation.

According to the complaint, SRTT currently has six trustees, of whom Jimmy Naval Tata, Jehangir HC Jehangir and Noel Naval Tata are lifetime trustees, accounting for 50 per cent of the board strength.

–IANS

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