The formidable challenges facing the next Tata Sons top boss

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran resigned earlier this month, leaving corporate India’s top job vacant and raising the difficulty of finding a successor for the Tata Group. The conglomerate’s roughly $300bn empire spans Jaguar Land Rover and Air India, and includes manufacturing iPhones for Apple. Chandrasekaran’s departure followed a deadlock over his reappointment and a widening rift with Tata Trusts, the charity arm holding controlling shares in the unlisted commercial holding company. Reported disputes involve plans to list Tata Sons publicly and capital allocation for new, loss-making ventures, including semiconductors, e-commerce and aviation. A new leader will need skills covering governance across Tata entities and relationships with regulators, according to IiAS’s Hetal Dalal.