July 29: Mr Noel Tata, managing director of Trent, the Tata group’s flourishing retail arm, has been appointed as managing director of Tata International, a big brand in leather and engineering including automobile distribution in Africa. The group informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday that Noel Tata would continue to remain on the board of directors of the company as non-executive vice-chairman and would consequently continue to be involved in the overall management. Mr Ratan Tata is expected to resign as MD of Trent on August 1.
Mr Tata started his career in Tata International and subsequently joined Trent the retail arm of the Tata group. Trent was started by his mother Simone Tata the name behind the iconic Indian cosmetic brand Lakme, after she sold Lakme to Hindustan Lever. Mr Noel Tata had joined as a director and later became managing director. Under his leadership Trent became one of the fastest growing retail stores and its brand Westside is one of the best known from fashion wear to household furnishing.
Noel is now well-entrenched in the Tata Group. Last month he was appointed vice-chairman of Tata Investments.
Since 2003 he has been appointed a director of Titan Industries which has branched into manufacturing of watches, clocks, and jewelry, and is an additional director of Voltas, the air-conditioning giant which has huge projects in Dubai.
Corporate watchers feel Mr Noel Tata’s increasing involvement in the group will qualify him in a more significant manner for the position as chairman of the group. The position is wide open after Mr Rata Tata’s retirement which is over two years away, as Mr Tata has made it clear that it would be a professional appointment and could even be a foreigner since the group now has a significant global presence.
Mr Noel Tata is the son-in-law of Pallonji Shapoorji Mistgave up his Indian citizenship in 2007 to adopt Irish citizenship, making him the second richest Irish national in the world, behind Mr Sean Quinn.