The Tata dispute must be resolved amicably and out of public view, says Sitharaman | Today’s news
Mumbai: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that the dispute within the Tata group should be resolved by the parties themselves and kept out of the public eye, stressing that the conglomerate was too important to the Indian economy to hang on for long.
“This is a very critical part of the Indian economy and therefore they have to come to an amicable agreement with each other,” Sitharaman said on Financial Express event in Mumbai. The problem “cannot be spread to the public like this,” she added.
The finance minister described the matter as sensitive and said that the resolution would require business judgment and mutual goodwill. She declined to comment on whether the government would intervene to facilitate negotiations between the two sides.
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The dispute centered on the reappointment of N. Chandrasekaran as chairman of Tata Sons and the debate over a possible listing of the holding company. Tata Trusts, which owns 65.9% of Tata Sons, opposes the listing, although trustees Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh have backed the idea, Mint reported.
on Monday Mint announced that Senior High Court lawyer Darius Khambata had decided not to seek another term as Sir Dorabji’s trustee Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, two major Tata Trusts, in a letter strongly critical of the Tata Sons board’s September 17 decision to reappoint Chandrasekaran.
As we speak ahead of our tenth consecutive budget, Sitharaman also indicated that the government was listening to concerns about the outflow of foreign portfolios, even as it stopped short of promising tax breaks. She pointed out that the tax structure in 2023-24, when inflows hit a record, was the same as today, but said the situation had shifted since then. “Circumstances have changed, problems have increased, there has been more outflow of FIIs (foreign institutional investors),” she said, adding that foreign investors have started coming back.
Budget signals on markets and investments
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The government has spent the past few years deepening the bond market, Sitharaman said, but now there is a demand for equities to get a similar boost. “I don’t want to say more at this stage, but I recognize the voice,” she said, adding that taxation is only one part of the problem. Asked what the government could realistically do to win back foreign investors when U.S. Treasuries offer attractive risk-free yields, she said she would first listen to all stakeholders and then decide what she could act on.
On tax administration, the minister said the government’s approach rests on taxpayers’ trust, citing anonymous assessment and the next-generation Goods and Services Tax (GST) overhaul as examples, and that she would continue such reforms at the Treasury.
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Sitharaman also marked a shift in her view of private sector investment. When asked if she was frustrated that the industry kept pushing for reform without opening its wallets, she said she would have agreed a few years ago. “But I’m not going to say that now because I see the industry coming out,” she said. Companies can be selective about sectors, she said, but the demand that followed the GST rate rationalization in September 2025 has given them the confidence to invest.
She also dismissed concerns that sluggish wage growth, even as corporate profits rise, could erode consumer demand. “I still think India’s consumption story will remain intact,” she said, pointing to October’s GST collections, which she said were the highest. She rejected suggestions that the numbers were boosted by imports, arguing that most of those imports were raw materials needed by exporters.
