India's Tata shares fall as Chandrasekaran decides to step down

Shares of Tata Group companies fell on Wednesday after N. Chandrasekaran said he would not seek reappointment as Tata Sons chairman, deepening uncertainty at India’s largest conglomerate that is already grappling with issues ranging from regulatory scrutiny to pricing pressures.

India’s top IT services exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, slumped 3.9% and was the biggest loser on the Nifty, dragging benchmark indexes lower.

Jaguar Land Rover-parent Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles closed down 1.3%, while jeweller Titan and Tata Steel slipped 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively.

The stocks, however, ended off the day’s lows.

Chandrasekaran cited a lack of backing from the board as the reason behind his decision, following months of tensions with Tata Trusts, the charity arm that owns 66% of Tata Sons, which, in turn, controls more than 30 companies in the conglomerate.

The two sides have disagreed over a potential listing of Tata Sons, losses at Air India, the planned exit of a minority shareholder and board representation.

Chair of India’s Tata to step down after tension with controlling charity

“It’s a knee-jerk reaction as Chandra has been at the helm for a long time, however, once the new chairperson is announced, it would be back to business as usual,” said Ambareesh Baliga, a Mumbai-based market analyst.

Over the past year, the conglomerate has had to grapple with regulatory scrutiny of Air India following a fatal crash, pricing pressure at TCS and a cyberattack at JLR that disrupted production and weighed on Britain’s economic output.

A source with direct knowledge of Chandrasekaran’s decision told Reuters the disagreements were the sole reason for his resignation.

So far in 2026, TCS shares have dropped 25.6%, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles is down 6.6% while Tata Steel has gained 3.4%. Titan shares have risen 26%.

“We have witnessed such uncertain periods for Tata Group, when Ratan Tata had taken over in early 1990s and more recently during the Cyrus Mistry imbroglio, but it has always managed to steer through. So this time it shouldn’t be any different,” said Baliga.